Wakened Autumn: Seth's Story
by FinalLifeline
Summary: SETH/JACOB After Jacob's 17th birthday, a distraught Seth finds out more about himself than he could ever have wanted to know... he imprinted on Jacob. POST-BD. SLASH- SETH/JAKE. Rated T for minor swearing, angst, and violence.
1. Moonlight

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything used in this fanfiction!!!!**

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~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~

~-~Unwell by matchbox20~-~

~-~The Truth About Heaven by Armor For Sleep~-~

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~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

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1. MOONLIGHT

I was tired. No doubt about it. In fact, I was absolutely exhausted. Every muscle in my body was prepared to shut down. But my mind adamantly refused to let my body overpower it.

I hadn't stayed out this late for a few weeks. I knew that at some point, all the tire would come crashing down on me. I kind of wondered if I'd be able to wake up then, when I finally did decide to fall asleep.

Breathing in slowly, I took in all the scents of the forest around me... the fresh, alive smell of the grass... the rich, thick aroma of the earth... the scent of lilac... even the revitalizing scent of a clean stream nearby...

That reminded me. I was kinda thirsty.

I stood up carefully and walked over to the stream. I peered into the clean, pure sheet of living glass. I smelt towards the water again, attempting to catch the scent of any kind of impurity. Sensing none, I knelt down and cupped my hands, filling them with cold stream water. I drank some, just enough to quench a little of the thirst. Didn't need to take too many risks with mountain stream water.

I walked slowly and wearily back to my sitting place, putting my back against an oak.

I was tired.

No doubt about it.

I looked around. I was lucky I got here before any of the others had phased. Before any of them could hear my thoughts...

This was one of the only places I knew of that I could really be me... Where I could really be Seth Clearwater... What I wouldn't give just to be able to sit here forever.

I shuddered involuntarily at that thought... what _wouldn't_ I give?

Well, it was better than hanging out with my sister, that's for sure. Even though Leah was doing much better now than she had before, she was still a little uncomfortable to be around sometimes.

There had never been a day in my life where I had wanted sleep this badly, but my mind was too lost in contemplation.

Frozen in contemplation.

Frozen on one singular image: dark brown eyes, long shiny black hair, an almost paralyzed expression-

My thoughts were interrupted abruptly by a sound in the nearby thicket.

Within seconds, I had my clothes tied to the leather cord around my left leg, and exploded into a mass of sandy-colored fur. I snarled warningly towards the sound.

_Relax, Seth, it's just me._

Jacob.

My best friend in the entire world.

_Oh,_ I thought back. _Hey Jake._

The russet colored wolf form of Jacob Black appeared. Even as a wolf, he seemed a little tired.

_Its getting late,_ Jacob's voice rang through my mind. _What are you doing way out here?_

I blinked uncertainly for a few seconds, before I remembered where I was: A few miles south of Seattle.

_Just came here to think, _I replied, forcing the image from earlier out of my mind.

_It's pretty dark, man,_ he thought, looking around at the dark forest. _You should probably be getting home soon._

I thought about that for a moment... I really didn't want to leave. I didn't have a good reason. I didn't want to face Leah when I got there... but I _really_ didn't want my mom to worry.

_ Yeah, your mom doesn't need to be worrying now. How about you stay over at my place? I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind._

I was a little slow on the rebound. For a sec., I had forgotten that Jacob could hear my thoughts.

_Yeah!_ I said. _That would be awesome!_

_Great, _Jacob said. _ Let's get going, so we can be home before midnight._

Jacob turned swiftly and darted back through the thicket. I followed right after, eager to get to run again. I laughed (mentally) as we started back south.

_What's so funny?_ Jacob asked, slowing down the smallest bit.

_Ha ha, no real reason, I just like to run,_ I replied, picking up the pace a bit.

Jacob laughed in his head too. Then the laughed turned kind of competitive. I was running at a faster pace, easily a few feet ahead. I heard the sound of his paws become more rapid as we shot through the trees. I attempted to accelerate but Jacob was too fast for me.

_Oh, no, you don't!_ he yelled. Within seconds, he took the lead.

_Oh, I think I do!_ I replied, speeding up until we were neck-to-neck.

_Then think again!_

And Jacob suddenly darted in front of me, running in a way that I was scared to even wonder if I could match.

_Whoa now!_

I pushed my legs harder, and they cooperated, but I doubted that I could catch up with Jacob now. I looked ahead towards him, and he was moving like I'd never seen him move! My mouth curled up in marvel as he leapt from the ground into the trees. Jacob was vaulting from tree to tree, and I couldn't tell if it was my imagination or if he really was getting higher every second!

A surge like electricity pulsed under my skin, and without knowing what I was doing, I flew up into the trees and deftly jumped from limb to limb, imagining that I was being as graceful as Jacob was. The feeling was amazing! I could sense everything around me as I launched myself through the treetops, never looking down.

For a few seconds, I forgot about any kind of trouble that I might have had, and I was soaring!

Then I remembered I wasn't alone. I glanced swiftly upwards. Jacob was right in front of me, but a few yards above me.

He was higher than I could reach with my paws, but not so high that I couldn't get to him soon! Thoughtlessly, I calculated the angle of the branches, where we both were, and I jumped!

And-

So did Jacob!

With one nearly unseen movement, he dived from the branches!

_Holy crap!_ was all I could think before I heard Jacob's mental _Woohoo!_ echo inside my head. I stopped to perch on a branch lower to the ground immediately, and watched Jake's plummet. There were no worries. It's not like he would get hurt! Dogs always land on their feet, right? Or is that cats...

I cut that thought short as Jacob flawlessly landed on a branch about 20 feet above the forest floor. I let myself breath again as Jake bounded down the last few branches, landing on the ground with a dull thud and a rustle of tree leaves.

With a bound similar to Jacob's, I leaped downwards from limb to limb, and within 10 seconds, I was on the ground with Jake.

_Ha ha, that was fun,_ Jacob laughed.

I laughed too (mentally, of course), and was still laughing when, a few seconds later, Jacob and I shot off toward home.

It was close to midnight when we neared First Beach. Before we got onto the beach, Jacob and I both phased into human form and dressed, cuz we didn't need anymore wolf rumors running around.

The beach was brighter tonight, and the wet sand seemed to glow in the almost-metallic blue moonlight. The tide was strong, and it pulled a lotta sand with it. Jacob and I speed walked at the very edge of the water. Once when the tide was immensely strong, I had to jump out of the way to avoid getting sucked in. Jacob laughed at that.

When we got to Billy's, the lights were all still on, and I guessed that Billy would still have supper of some kind on the table, probably still warm.

"Hey Seth," said Billy when we got in. "Your mom called a minute ago, asking if you were staying here for the night."

Jacob nodded to Billy, and Billy smiled, and began to wheel his wheelchair towards the phone.

"Supper's on the table, boys," he added. "Help yourself, I've already eaten."

I smiled and followed Jacob into the kitchen/dining room.

Being at Billy's always made me feel at home. It _was_ like a second home to me.

The kitchen was warm, filled with the smell of fresh tomato and pesto. I smiled. The warmth was a very welcoming thing, especially because of the hectically spiraling temperature outside.

"So I guess your dad was expecting me?" I asked as we ate some of Billy's "world famous" spaghetti.

"Yeah," said Jacob, twirling his fork into the steaming noodles. "Your mom wanted to know where you were, so I went to find you."

I thought about this for a second, staring at the delicious red pasta sauce.

"Wait, how did you find me?"

"Well, it wasn't easy," he began. "I got kind of irritated when I knew you weren't in wolf form. Broke a few trees." We both laughed. "Then I thought about where you usually go when you go off on your own. I checked the beaches first. Then I went through Forks, in human form. Then I phased back so that I could see if you had phased. Of course, you hadn't, but I heard a little bit of Leah's thoughts. She was mumbling something about running off to Seattle. I think she called you a pocket-sized gremlin."

"Hm," I said, trying not to choke on the nearly scalding hot noodles. "I'll remember that."

He flashed a grin and then continued.

"So I went off towards Seattle, checking around the water sources, cuz Leah said you were whining about being thirsty before you left."

I smiled, remembering the cold stream in the forest. And kinda wanting to punch Leah in the face.

"And then, I just sort of found you."

I nodded incoherently.

"Seth, what the hell were you doing there anyways?"

I stumbled for a moment before answering.

"Oh, just enjoying nature." Wrong. It came out like this:

"Um... uh, just... enjoying nature?"

"Ok then," he said, sitting back a little bit. I was sure I hadn't heard that last of that.

Billy went to bed while we were still eating. It was only a little past midnight when Jake and I finished downing the spaghetti, and from what I could tell, Jacob wasn't planning on going to sleep anytime soon. That was absolutely fine with me. Sleep meant dreams, dreams meant nightmares, nightmares means that on the chance that I might remember one while I'm a wolf, the whole pack would know about my dreams... not a good thing.

Jake and I settled for watching an old Family Guy rerun. It was funny enough to get my mind off my troubles, and Jake laughed until he snorted Coke out his nose... which made us laugh even more. After some of the ridiculous laughter began to subside, I got up to fix some popcorn.

Sitting on the couch for so long had made me a little tense. I walked into the warm and welcoming kitchen, popping my neck as I walked. The sound made Jacob snicker a little more. After finding the popcorn, I put it in the microwave. I got out a large clear glass bowl to put the popcorn in. As the popcorn cooked in the glossy black microwave, I looked out of the window, looking off into the sky.

The night sky was as black as pitch, maybe darker. The stars were brilliantly exposed from the

usual cover of clouds. It was mesmerizing. I could recognize many of the constellations just by glancing. But it was the moon that really caught my eye. It was brighter than I had seen it in months. I supposed that it was a full moon tonight. The light emitting from the bright orb was so dazzling, I could barely pull my eyes away when I saw the girl.

Just behind the edge of the trees stood a girl, maybe ten, probably younger. If I had just glanced, I would have said it was Renesmee Cullen, Bella and Edward's daughter. It wasn't, not even close. This girl was whiter than white, whiter than the moon, and more entrancing. It took me too long to realize what the smell was. The sickly sweet scent of a vampire drifted in through the window. I had been around the Cullen family so much; the smell didn't have a repellent affect on me. It almost drew me in. The little vampire girl's eyes were brilliant red. She was dressed in ragged clothes, and her hair was the strangest shade of blonde, almost gray, despite her obvious youth. I didn't even realize that I was in danger.

The girl was staring at me, had been staring at me before I even noticed her.

The sound of glass shattering and a sudden sharp pain in my foot was all it took to distract me. I had dropped the glass bowl I was holding, breaking it into ten, twenty large, wicked-looking shards.

Jacob was at my side within seconds.

"Oh, crap," he said, dropping to a crouch on the balls of his feet.

One of the shards had lodged itself into my shoeless foot. I looked down at it with the same mesmerized look I had worn when I saw the vampire girl. Jacob grabbed the piece of glass and gently slid it out of the wound. It didn't bleed much, thank God. Didn't need that little girl near blood.

"Ow," I said, about ten seconds late.

"Nice reaction," Jake said sarcastically, putting a red hand towel over the wound. Smart.

"Jake, clean up the glass, I can take care of my foot," I said, tying the towel around my foot. Jake swept the shards and bits of glass into a dustpan and then walked to the trash to dispose of them.

I wondered silently if he had noticed the vampire's scent. If he had, he kept quiet about it.

"Well, that was fun," said Jacob, turning to me with a slightly smug look. The microwave beeped.

"I think we'll need a new bowl for that," I mused, being a little sarcastic.

He smirked at me, and got a new bowl.

I forgot about the strange little girl almost completely, and my foot healed within minutes. The popcorn wasn't overdone, though I had expected it to be, and Billy had remained asleep throughout the whole ordeal. We sat down again on the couch, this time watching a new movie, some kind of action-adventure flick. It was a good movie, filled with all sorts of magical and mythical stuff, even a passing mention of werewolves. Jake laughed bemusedly when the characters were frightened on the night of a full moon when they heard howling in the forest.

Somewhere around a troll ambush and a meeting of an Elven council, I drifted into a dreamlike trance.

It was like someone had brought down heaven and poured a little of hell into it. Cloudy, very cloudy, and cold too. Through the mist of my trance-world came a red hot light, so bright that I could feel the heat pulsing from it. Like someone had poured hell into a cold, cold heaven. I was alone here, the solitary prisoner in this purgatory. And then above me, a door seemed to open, and standing there, saving me from purgatory was an angel. He was very tall, with red-brown skin, dark eyes, and long satiny black hair. All I could do was blink against the pulsating red light radiating from all around me, and the second light, white and brighter than the other. The angel extended his hand. My reaction was instant, and I reached for his hand. The distance between us disappeared, and I was alone with this angel. I was holding his hand. His hand felt like holding my hand close to a flame... I looked up into the face of my rescuer.

Then my trance broke abruptly, broken by a warm hand shaking my knee.

I opened my eyes.

And I looked into the dark eyes of the angel.

Into the face of Jacob Black.

It took me all of fifteen seconds to realize who I was looking at. It was almost like my mind was blocking out everything but his face. His dark, alluring eyes. I was too entranced to realize that I was staring, something I always avoided. Then I looked away from his eyes and took in his expression. He was confused, disturbed, even, by _my_ expression.

I thought in silence, never looking away from his face. It had been a dream. I wasn't stuck in some kind of bizarre mixture of heaven and hell. I was in Billy and Jacob's small square living room, on the couch. Jake was staring at me as if I had just told him that I had seen an alien, even though I had said nothing. I was wide awake, sweating, even though I had just been asleep.

It took me all of two seconds to think all this, and then I tore my eyes away from his face and towards the TV, preparing to deflect any kind of question Jacob might shoot at me. I stared blankly at the television set, which seemed to be at the same part of the movie that I had fallen asleep at. How long had I been asleep?

"Seth?" said Jacob, warily. He hadn't looked away from me, although I had looked away from him.

I didn't respond, pretending to yawn. I didn't even look back at him, and instead, settled for fiddling with a strand of my messy brown hair.

"Seth," he repeated, not a question this time.

I attempted to make an intelligent response this time, but all that came out was "Mhmm?"

Then I noticed that his hand was still on my knee, because he shook it again, more violently this time.

"What?" I said, snapping my head towards him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, more cautiously than before.

I stumbled internally to find the right answer.

"Why wouldn't I be?" tripped out of my lips before I had time to think.

Jake was silent for a moment.

"You were talking in your sleep," he said.

Oh crap. What had I said?!

"What did I say?" I asked, forcing back the blood that was trying to rush to my face.

He deliberated before answering.

"Something about red light. I couldn't understand most of it. But right before I woke you up, I thought I heard you say 'the angel'."

Wow, I really dodged the bullet this time.

"I'm fine," I whispered, much quieter than I meant to be. "You just... scared the crap outta me."

I pushed his shoulder like a brother would, trying to act at least a little normal, crossing my fingers he wouldn't see through me.

"Okay," he said, relieved that I hadn't been having a seizure or something.

It was silent for a little too long.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Around 1:30," replied Jacob. "You were only out for like five minutes."

Oh, wow! Thank God. That means that the dream was only at the beginning... I wonder how bad it could've gotten. Well, it _had_ gotten bad enough for me to talk in my sleep.

"Really?" I asked, innocently. "It seemed like longer."

I glanced back to the TV.

Jacob didn't say anything else for a long while, and I thought in silence.

But I couldn't let my eyes look back at Jacob.

The boy I loved.


	2. Voice

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters, locations, or any other elements used in the creation of this story! All rights belong to Stephenie Meyer, my favorite writer in the entire world!**

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~-~SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~Numb by Linkin Park~-~

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~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

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2. VOICE

Sleep was actually relaxing, although I was surprised I even got to sleep after what had happened last time I fell asleep, but I drifted away, dreamlessly and peacefully.

When I opened my eyes, I had to blink a few times to get used to something I hadn't expected. Light was spilling in through the windows of the Black's house. I sat up, realizing I wasn't where I had been before. And I was alone. Somehow, I had been moved from the couch to Jacob's bed, probably because Jake, in all of his seven foot tall glory, and I, in all my 5'7"-well, not glory-, wouldn't both fit on the couch. And I was pretty sure he didn't exactly fit on his bed.

I looked around. Jacob's room was almost exactly as I remembered it. Messy, very messy, probably because he was barely ever in it anymore.

But there was something different now.

On the wall right above me was a painting.

I stood up from the bed, staring at the painting.

It was a dark painting, using mostly black, blue, grey, and white. It was a painting of wolves. Three wolves stood in different places around the painting, two in the background, pacing the woods, and one in the foreground, perched on a cliffside, howling at the white full moon, which stretched omnipotently across the top half of the picture.

Before I had time to wonder where Jake had gotten it, I noticed the inscription on the very bottom part of the frame:

:::::::from Edward, Bella, & Renesmee:::::::

Renesmee.

I sighed. Jake had already imprinted. On Nessie.

I literally felt my heart pull itself away from the bones of my ribcage and the beat of my heart slowing to a tiny tap. Or maybe that's exaggerating a bit. Well, my heart sank. Jacob loved Renesmee, and I was almost certain she felt the same way.

Depression surged through me. It was the strangest feeling. It was almost like numbness. I couldn't even feel my heart anymore. Not a sound, not a single beat did I feel or hear. And it was cold, colder than I'd ever known anything could be. It was even colder than any of the the Cullen's skin. Colder than ice, and I doubted that the icy vacuum of space could be any colder than this.

My face was the coldest. Something was dripping from my eyes, slowly and unrhythmically. The strange new liquid seeping from my eyes fell in a broken, unnatural rhythm, matching the fault line on my heart. I wondered silently how long it would be till that fault line broke apart, and my heart with it.

Wonder mixed in slowly with this anxiety. If Jacob had already imprinted on Renesmee... how had I imprinted on him? …. Confusion infused itself into the equation when a new question arose within me: could a male imprint on another male? Or was I just a freak?

Because it was quite obvious to me.

I had imprinted long ago, on Jacob.

"Oh, good, you're awake!"

It took me too long to realize that Jacob was walking towards his room. Thank God I had my back to him, and he didn't even notice when my hand shot towards my face and wiped off the tears.

I didn't turn towards him, and used the last two seconds to recover myself. I almost gasped when I turned to look at him.

It had been too long since I had seen Jacob in the sun. To me, it was even more beautiful than any of the vampires in the sunlight. His russet skin seemed to glow in the sun, and his muscles looked strong and powerful. I turned towards the painting again, trying my hardest not to stare.

"Morning," I said. My tone was totally emotionless.

"You okay?" Jake asked, stopping about two feet behind me, in the doorway of his room.

His voice had a strange affect on me, no matter how it sounded. I felt the numbness retracting from my mind and body, and the coldness disappeared, letting the blood flow from my heart to every inch of my revitalized body. I was warm, burning up. And my heart began beating again.

I could smile again. It wasn't even a fake smile! Even when Jacob's voice was worried, it still had that same warmth in it that I loved. Fighting the urge to attack him with a hug, I smiled at him and said:

"I'm great!"

He smiled back as he took a step into the room. His smile had just as much effect as his voice, and the same warming feeling swept through me again.

It was impossible not to love Jacob, for me anyway.

Jacob looked around. He obviously hadn't been in his room very much lately. He let a low laugh when he saw what I had been looking at.

"They gave it to me on my birthday," Jake said, and his eyes began to sink into the memory of that day.

I remembered that day too.

* * *

TWO MONTHS EARLIER

Jake's birthday had always been a big thing, no matter how old he was turning. Jacob was born on July 3, 1990, two years before me, and that day, he was turning 18. It was one of my favorite days of the year now, only because of what had happened. We had the party at the Cullen's, for the treaty was mud now anyway. (Leah didn't like this, so we had the party outside, in front of the Cullen's illustrious house. That seemed to be good enough for her.) I remembered the party so well, it was like it was happening again in my memory.

I had gotten Jake a new album, by one of our mutual favorite bands, My Chemical Romance. Bella, Edward, and Nessie got him the wolf portrait, of course. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett (and Rosalie, but she didn't admit it) got him a huge set of state of the art car tools. Carlisle and Esme spent like a million freaking dollars or more on a pair of jeans that would transform with him when he phased so that when he phased back, they would phase back on him. He tried his hardest to be as gentle with these as possible, and tried to talk them into taking money to pay back for it, but (of course) they already had enough money to give him ten more pairs.

The tribe council and the wolf pack (even me) got together and made Jacob a book of Quileute legends.

The party had been a lot of fun. Somehow, Alice and Edward had picked the perfect music (and I was sure half of it hadn't even been released legally yet) and the party was probably the best that Jacob had ever had.

After the party, Nessie gave Jacob his real gift from her. She had written a song for him. I secretly watched and listened as Renesmee sat on the piano, her hands moving gracefully across the ivory and ebony keys. She was the most beautiful girl in the world. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her hands as she played the piece. I could've sworn that she plays better than Edward, and he has 109 years of experience.

Thats when it happened. I don't know what had set it off, or how it had remained dormant this whole time, all these years that Jake and I had been friends. I had frozen in place, crouched silently on the doorstep of the house. Suddenly, Renesmee was gone. The piano was gone, the room, the house, the Cullens, the pack, the party, the whole world was gone....

Except for him. Jacob Black sat on the edge of the piano seat, his eyes on someone that I couldn't see anymore, wearing a pair of kaki shorts, a red shirt, and no shoes. His sleek black hair was pulled into a pony tail, because someone that I couldn't remember liked it that way, I think her name was Re- Rene- Oh, forget it, it doesn't matter, all that matters is Jake. Jacob. Jacob Black.

It took Leah kicking me in the groin to get me to snap out of it. After destroying any chance for me to have kids, (yes, that was sarcasm, can't you just taste it) she tried to drag me out of the house. I had resisted, trying to pretend I had to refill my cup (which I didn't have with me, what a lame excuse), I realized that Jake and Renesmee weren't even at the piano anymore. They were back outside, laughing at some joke that Emmett made that I hadn't heard.

I didn't sleep that night. I knew I would dream about Jacob. I was up all night, trying not to cry. I knew then that I had imprinted on him. It made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I wasn't gay! I was normal, my life made sense, I didn't love Jacob, and I most definitely did NOT imprint on him!

I barely left my room the next day either.

I got really sick, and ended up lying on the bathroom floor with my cheek pressed against the cold tile floor for God knows how long before my mom found me. I guess I had gotten whatever was in my system out that first time, but I lay in bed all day, regardless, sick to my stomach at the very thought of Jake. Or Renesmee. I almost had to run to the bathroom once, just because the image of Jacob holding Renesmee had somehow flitted into my mind.

It was a week or so before I saw Jake again. I used my 'sick' excuse for a few days, and I didn't have to fake either. I really was sick. Then, when I started to feel better, then I pretended to have some kind of crap for school to do. When my non-existent book report, and my never-had-to-do science essay were "finished", I gave up. I had to see Jacob again.

When I saw him, a week after his birthday, I was all smiles. I couldn't help it. It had always been easy to be happy around Jake, but it was even easier now, and I had began to wonder if I would be able to control myself if things got a little too close. No, I would never let anything get close to that. Ever.

* * *

It only took me moments to recall all of this before I painfully snapped back to the present. I smiled at the memory- well, the parts of it that were worthy to be called anything like happy.

I glanced over at Jacob, who was now looking at his bed.

"Wow, Seth," he said, a little confused. "The bed looks almost exactly like it did when I put you in it last night. You must not have had any more nightmares."

He turned and gave me an unreadable smile, before turning to look for a shirt.

"Thanks for doing that," I said.

"Your welcome," he replied, shooting me a quick smiley glance. "You looked cold, and you were shivering like crazy. You were sweating too. Plus, there wasn't enough room on the couch for both of us."

_Aw. You are way too nice._

"Thanks, Jake," I repeated, sitting on the edge of the bed. Nervous, as I always was in his presence, I fidgeted with the fringe of my left pants leg.

"So what are we gonna do today? It's a Saturday," he added, slipping on the same shirt he had worn to his birthday party. As he put it on, I fought off the urge to risk a glance towards his muscular torso. I was very good at it. I didn't even twitch. I didn't want to give him any hints about my unfortunate imprintation.

Stupid, werewolf soulmate-finding instincts.

"Hm..." I thought for a moment, thinking. Anything school related was out of course. Thank God, my mother was planning to homeschool me soon, now that Leah had graduated. (I think the reason for that was because of gas prices, but I don't know.)

Then I knew what I wanted to do.

I spun towards Jacob, my face suddenly bright with real enthusiasm.

"Cliff diving!"

* * *

The whole day technically planned itself out after we told Billy about our cliff diving plans. Apparently, Carlisle had called, and Billy, Jacob, my mother, Charlie, and myself were going to have dinner at the Cullen's house after we cliff-dived. Edward and Emmett were going to barbecue. I wondered how long it had been since either of them had used a grill, and blinked back at the thought. Maybe I could get them to let Bella cook the food, since she was much more experienced at it.

I had to get some different clothes to change into after the diving, so Jacob drove me home to get some clothes (even though he knew perfectly well that I could drive, he just wanted to show off).

The front door was unlocked, and my mother was in the kitchen,n, mopping the shiny linoleum floor.

"Hey, hun," she said, looking up at me and smiling.

"Hey, Mom," I replied. "Me and Jake are gonna go cliff diving, I'll be back later."

"Alright," she answered, scrubbing a tough spot. "Be safe. Oh, and be back in time to go eat with the Cullen's."

I got my clothes: a pair of jeans, torn and abused from being outside all day, and a plain white t-shirt, stained with grease from Jacob's garage. These would do just perfectly.

Jake was outside waiting in the Rabbit, but he had a weird look on his face. The look on his face made me blush unexpectedly. It was the same look that I imagined him having if he ever found out about my imprinting.

But he wasn't looking at me, but past me, beyond the house.

I spun around, trying to see what it was he that he was seeing. I frowned. I didn't see anything at all.

I jogged to the car and hopped in, holding my clothes to my side with my right hand.

Jake turned to look at me, and then smiled, not mentioning whatever he was staring at.

We drove to the cliffside. The plan was that we were going to jump off the very top of the cliff. I was all for that.

I stepped out of the car and through the small crop of trees that separated the cliffside from the road. The cliffs were the same shade of tan I remembered. Almost the same color as my werewolf fur.

Jacob followed me almost silently onto the top of the cliff. The bare rock was bereft of vegetation, the rock clear as bone, jutting out into the 'jumping place', as the pack called it.

"Alright!" Jake yelled, enthusiasm dripping off his lips. "Let's do this!"

His enthusiasm was poisonously contagious, and I couldn't help but smile back.

We walked closer to the edge, and Jacob pulled off his blood-red shirt, now only in his khaki shorts, and no shoes, of course.

I mimicked him, not glancing towards him, making myself seem as nonchalant as possible. I tossed my shirt back closer towards the Rabbit, so that I could pick it up on the way back. Jake followed suit.

Jacob took a wary step towards the edge. He looked down, and I knew what he saw, the open air, stretching downward for only more than a hundred feet. I stepped to the edge more warily than he did.

The mere height made the butterflies in my stomach- no, the barracudas in my stomach- flutter excitedly. The feeling would be like flying, as I knew from previous experience. The sheer rock of the cliff face made the height look even more awe-inspiring. The water below would be like ice to a normal person, but to Jacob and I, it would be normal temperature, maybe even warmer today, for the air was still relatively warm. The mid-September sun was hidden, as always, behind the gray, ominous cover of clouds.

I smiled down at the waves, far below, lapping against the rocks below.

"You ready?" Jacob asked, turning his head carefully to the side, the impending exhilaration already illuminating his brilliant features.

"More than you are," I teased, cocking my head to side letting my light brown hair fall into my eyes. Woops, stupid thing to do on the edge of a cliff. I corrected the motion quickly, tossing my medium-length hair to the side, while Jake laughed loudly, his laugh bouncing all around us. My heart burned with the intensity of his laugh. As long as he was happy, then I could be.

"Let's do this!" He said again, before suddenly launching himself off of the side of the cliff. I followed soon after, beginning the plummet towards the dark blue waters below.

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**Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading my story! God knows I've busted my arse working on it! Lol, I love this chapter, and Seth rocks!!! Anyway! Twilight Fanfics rock!**

**~FinalLifeline~**


	3. Different

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the wonderful world of the Twilight Saga, which is owned my Stephenie Meyer, the most awesome writer alive! :D**

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~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~Tautou by Brand New~-~

~-~Please Forgive Me by David Gray~-~

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~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

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3. DIFFERENT

The dive took only seconds, though it seemed to last forever, and ever, and ever, but I didn't mind. I would probably be quite content with staying in the middle of the air, watching Jacob fall instead of watching my own plummet to the water. Just being with Jacob was reward enough for me.

Not that I deserved a reward.

I laughed for the very moments as Jacob recklessly twirled and somersaulted through the air, until his dark russet skin disappeared beneath the deep blue ocean below, and I vanished into the unknown half a second after.

The chill of the water was minimal, as I knew it would be, but it felt good against my scorching hot skin. I could feel my light brown hair waving silently above my head as I drifted, however far I was from the surface.

I could see Jacob, due only to the enhanced sight we werewolves had acquired. He was smiling, I could tell that much. His hair had somehow fallen out of the ponytail that had held it before, and now his brilliant obsidian-colored hair flew out in random ways behind him, like the drawings of mermen that I had seen before.

The water was so strange, stretching for miles and miles all around us, except, of course, for the wall of sheer rock that stayed in place a good ten yards away now. I took it that we had drifted quite a bit with the ebb and flow of the tide.

Out of the corner of my left eye, I saw Jacob motion to me. I turned quickly to see what he was trying to say. He was pointing towards the shore, motioning for us to swim.

I kicked my feet upwards, and got to the top of the water, where I would be able to swim much better.

When my head broke the water, I took in a deep breath, letting the perpetually cold air fill my lungs. I deliberated for half a moment before I swam, as fast as my body could handle, towards the shoreline. I looked down carefully, and saw Jacob swimming too, but he was faster!

Why did we have to turn _everything_ into a race?! Haha! I was not going to lose this time!

I pushed my body faster, not even looking down at Jacob, wondering if he was still ahead.

I made it to shore first, and the icy sand felt good against my bare feet.

Oh.

I _thought_ I made it to shore first. Somehow, Jake had beat me, and was sitting on a tipped over driftwood tree, gloating.

"Oh, you' dead, foo'!" I said venomously, tackling the big lug off the tree trunk.

He wrapped his arms tightly around me, not in a hug, but in a death squeeze. I struggled, kicking my feet like a two year old with coffee. But he didn't let go, so I decided to stop struggling. I stood perfectly still. Well, I floated perfectly still, as Jacob laughed like a hyena on crack. I tried really hard not to think of how much I liked being so close to him.

He let me go, I fell to the ground, and I leaned onto my back, breathing right again.

"Wow, that hurt," I said, trying VERY hard to mask how much I enjoyed it. Because I did. And I didn't like that I did.

"Good," Jake laughed, using one hand to vault back over the tree.

I stood up and followed him as he sauntered back towards the road. When I was right beside him, there was no confusing the wide smile on his face. He was reminiscing. Great. I wonder what he's –

"You know, when Bella was pregnant with Nessie," he began, answering my mental question. "You really bugged the hell out of me then, you know that?" he teased, shoving my shoulder the way he always did. He was a little stronger than he thought, and I lost my balance a little.

I straightened myself back up.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "I must have."

I remembered those days, when it was just Jake and me. And Leah, but she hardly counts.

The days before I ever imprinted on Jacob. _Sigh_. Good times.

"You've really changed," Jacob continued, looking forward.

I hesitated before speaking this time.

"Really?" I asked. Change wasn't good. I tried to avoid change at all cost.

"Well, its hard to explain," he said. "You were all happy and lighthearted before, and you still kinda are, but not in the same way."

I mentally sighed. He was right, of course. My disastrous imprintation had altered my being perpetually, defying my rule against change. The happiness was still there, oh yes. But it wasn't the same, it was like it had been watered down, diluted. Like half of the ocean was gone inside me.

I didn't say anything, but he continued anyway.

"I think you really changed after my birthday."

My foot faltered, and so did my breath. Although his birthday was my favorite day of the year (of course it was, how could I help it?), I avoided the topic of his birthday as fervently as I avoided any more change. I fixed my footing and my breathing, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"You know, I didn't even see you for a week after the party," he went on, still walking, but slower now. "You got sick, right? And then you had all that homework."

I nodded cautiously. I remembered my excuses for that week of absence very well.

"That's when you changed."

The direction this conversation was taking was not very nice. I felt horrible. I thought I had been acting just the same as always. I really _was_ different then...

"It was like you got older or something. In every way. You got taller that week, for one thing." I smiled. I hadn't been paying much attention to my height then. "You thought too long about things that other people would never have to think about. You could barely use a microwave right." Huh. I didn't remember that... "And you talked different for a few days. It was like you were being really careful what you said around other people."

_No, Jake,_I thought to myself. _Not other people, just you._

"You didn't react to stuff like you used too, either. I remember trying to scare the crap out of you twice. The first time, you didn't even flinch, you just smiled and looked away. The second time was better though. You screamed real loud." He laughed at the memory.

I laughed too. I remembered the second time pretty well, but the first time... was I really that distant?

"Wow," was all I could say. It felt really dumb, but what else could I say? _Jacob, I acted so loopy because I'm deeply and madly in love with you but I'm too scared to admit it to you!!!_

No.

Definitely not. I scolded myself for thinking it. _Bad Seth. Baaaad Seth._

"Wow?" he repeated.

"I mean, wow, you sure are smart?" I knew it would sound moronic before I said it.

"Seth," Jake said, stopping suddenly. We were almost back to the top of the hill that led back to the cliff, and the Rabbit. "Did something happen that week? After the party?"

I went blank.

_Damn it damn it damn it!!!_

I had no idea what to say. I didn't even open my mouth and stutter like I usually did. I just stared at him, my eyes widening.

Then I knew what to say.

"If there was something going on, Jake, you would already know by now," I tapped my forehead. "Wolf mind-reading powers, you 'member?"

He didn't seem to have softened much.

"Seth, it's not that hard to block something out of your mind, even in wolf form," he said, staring me down like a big brother would if he was mad at a little brother that went in his room. But then he softened, because I looked almost frightened by him, an unusual occurrence. "Seth, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

_Not everything, Jake_.

"Right," I repeated, smiling up at him. I didn't have to smile _up_ that far anymore, since I was apparently taller. I looked down. The ground _was_ farther down than I remembered.

He smiled now, pleased by that. I guessed he planned to get me to spill the beans later.

_Ha ha-no._

We started walking again, and made it back to the Rabbit within ten seconds.

I got Jacob to let me drive this time, and he seemed secure enough with my sanity to allow that. I hopped in the front seat, buckling my seat belt to prove I wasn't completely reckless. Stabbing the key into the ignition, I turned the car on and started off towards the Cullens.

I stopped the car a few blocks from the Cullen's home, so that I could get some decent clothes on. We were both still in just our shorts. We changed fast, Jacob putting on the same red shirt and leaving his kaki shorts the way they were. I put on my abused jeans, and my grease-stained shirt, and we continued the drive.

The Cullens' house was always amazing to behold. The mere size of it made me woozy, but it was the inside that really amazed me. It felt more like home than my own house did.

The house was nearly packed when we got there. Carlisle and Esme, Edward and Bella, Renesmee, Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, Charlie, and my mother were all there. I didn't expect any of the pack to be there besides myself and Jacob, maybe Leah too, but some of them were there. Embry, Quil, and Jared were out back by the newly built deck, where the grill was.

I went to greet Carlisle and Esme first. Carlisle and Esme were like family to me now, as were the rest of the Cullens. Carlisle had such a ring of honesty and trust around him, it was almost as contagious as Jake's brilliant smile. Esme was like someone out of a fairytale (as Bella pointed out to me once), it was impossible not to love Esme.

Edward greeted me from the piano, where he was teaching Renesmee the final notes of the lullaby that he wrote for Bella. I returned the greeting warmly, and to Renesmee's simple "Hi!" as well, although it made me sad to see her. She would turn one year old in just a few days. One year closer to being "with" Jacob. If Jacob hadn't been there, I might have fallen apart at the thought of that, but I pulled through and looked away, concentrating on the date to distract myself.

Today was Saturday, September 9th.

I repeated that to myself over and over to hold myself together. It helped take my mind off the pain, and I felt myself slowly sew back together, mostly because of Jacob's presence.

Thank God he was so perpetually happy.

I walked outside, after waving hi to everyone inside.

"Hey guys," I said to my fellow pack members, sitting down in a poolside chair.

Wait a sec.

A _pool_ chair! We were sitting at the edge of a gigantic pool, probably Olympic-sized! The sides were made of some kind of metal, so that it wasn't as easy for the vampires to break, maybe?

"The pool's not for us," a voice came from behind me. For a second, I thought he meant us as in "the pack", but Edward had a different meaning.

He had heard my thoughts (of course) and replied to them. The pool wasn't for the vampires... then who?

Embry's eyes lit up as he understood what Edward meant.

"Duuuuuuude!!!" he said, excitement ruling his features. "This pool's for US?!"

Us? As in the _wolf pack_?!?!?!?!?

"OMG!!!!!" Jared and Embry half-screamed. I laughed and looked from them to Edward in amazement.

Edward's perfect features curled into a crooked smile and he nodded.

"Holy _crap_!!!" Quil shouted, jumping up with Embry.

If I didn't know better, I would have said they were going to hug Edward, but they didn't, of course.

"It was Nessie's idea," he said, grinning. "She thought it would be fun."

Then I felt a downside lingering to it.

"What about when it rains?" Jared asked. The perpetual rain here was part of who we all were now, but it was sometimes ridiculous.

"Watch this," he said, his mischievous grin expanding exponentially. With a movement too quick for human eyes, he bolted to a control panel on the wall of the house, right outside the doors. He touched a button, and above our heads, coming out of the roof of the house, a plexiglass roof was expanding to cover us. It reminded me of the lock-down mechanism for the house.

"Whoa!" I said, my eyes widening as I tilted my head to watch the strange transparent glass curve around the pool and the surrounding concrete patio.

I was pretty sure Embry and Quil were drooling, and I barely even saw Jared faint. I looked over towards the house, to the huge window, where it seemed everyone was looking at the huge plexiglass dome and the pool.

My cheerfulness dropped. The only ones not at the window were Jacob and Renesmee. I felt my heart stutter and then restart its rhythm, but I felt the fault line across my soul ripple with emotion.

I was suddenly doing everything I could to pull myself back together. If it meant jumping headfirst into the new pool, then I was going to do it! But I didn't need to. I simply had to look away from them.

But the face I turned to was no better.

Edward's marble face twisted in sudden horrors his eyes met mine. Oh, wait, no not horror. I had mistaken amazement for horror.

My eyes widened as he regained his composure, and smiled in a way that meant that I wasn't the only one that knew my secret now.

In a way that meant "Yes, Seth, I know you've imprinted on Jacob."

I tore my gaze away from Edward as the fault line in my soul rippled again.

NO.

Not the fault line. Not the _same_ one. A new, dormant breach had made itself known. A fault line that had been waiting for the moment where I was not the only one who knew, waiting for me to shoot myself in the foot.

And I had.

The look on Edward's face confirmed it.

I had already shot my foot to bits.

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~FinalLifeline~


	4. Caution

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DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the stuff used in this fanfiction!!! They all belong to Stephenie Meyer!**

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~-~SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance~-~

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~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

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4. CAUTION

No.

NO!!!

_Damn _it!!!!!

I should have known Edward would've found out sooner or later! I should've been much, much more careful with my thoughts!

Careful. Ha. I was already more careful than anyone knew. The one thing I absolutely friggin' _hated_ about being a werewolf was the stupid mind reading. More like mind sharing.

Damn it to hell!

I had to practically _numb_ myself before I ever phased so that they wouldn't hear my thoughts! My thoughts... my twisted, stupid, reckless, illogical thoughts!

I made sure I phased as little as possible, too, only once every two days, and using the other days to either sleep, or numb myself down enough to be distracted!

From what I could tell, none of them knew about my imprinting. I was absolutely sure of it! Especially NOT Jacob. I was over the top careful around Jake.

But Edward!

Edward knew now.

I barely ate when food was given to the pack, and the humans. I sat very still, paranoid, picking at the hamburger on my plate. My mind was a million miles away.

What was the worst that could happen? I doubted that Ed would tell the pack. He was _much_ too good of a friend to do that. And he definitely wouldn't tell Jacob. No, never. Or Renesmee. It would absolutely break her heart. But would he tell Bella? No, I doubted it. He wouldn't betray my trust like that. He _couldn't_ do that....

I didn't even sit near Jacob. I was way too jumpy to be close to him right now. And I kept a distance from Edward too, knowing that if I spoke with him, it would be much too difficult for me to block the thought of Jacob out of my mind the next time I phased.

Everyone (except the vamps) were finishing the food when a loud splash sounded beside me. A sudden chill ran up my spine. My eyes closed, my mouth opened in shock, and my hands shot up into the air. I opened my eyes and whipped my head towards the pool. Sitting at the table by the pool when Quil was near was not a very good idea.

My wet hair shot beads of moisture around me. I turned to glare at Quil, who had just resurfaced from the water, but I couldn't scowl. I smiled and laughed instead.

It really was funny. Funny meant a distraction. Distractions were good. Very good.

I laughed like I had just witnessed the funniest thing ever, and randomly flung myself into the pool, fully clothed, except shoes. I knocked a chair over on my way.

My God, that water felt good. It was just as cold as the ocean today, but not near as salty. I could open my eyes without feeling the least bit uncomfortable, and I kicked my feet off the edge of the pool siding and shot towards Quil like a bat out of hell.

I landed a kick on his hip, but it was an underwater kick. It did no more than move him a bit. I gave up and swam towards the bottom of the Olympic sized pool.

Launching myself down towards the bottom of the pool was easier and more distracting than I could imagine. All I could think about was the way the water felt against my overheated skin as I sank to the bottom of the pool. I was about twelve feet under now... My mind was clear, the haze of my reverie lifted.

My clothes were terribly soaked, but I knew my heat would eventually dry them.

I let a few bubbles escape from my open mouth as I floated just above the bottom of the transparent water, and watched them float carelessly to the top.

I wasn't the only one in the pool. I had been joined swiftly by the rest of the pack, who had arrived before we ate. I could recognize every one of them as they jumped into the water... Jared, Embry, Paul, Collin, Brady... and the seven new wolves: Michael, Gary, Ricky, Warren, Steven, Iliana (another female), and Chris. Leah didn't jump in. Of course. Classic Leah.

But Sam didn't jump in either. Not-so-classic Sam.

I didn't know if Jacob or Renesmee would jump in, but they hadn't yet, so I wasn't disappointed.

None of the Cullens jumped in.

Oh, wait! Yes they did!

Alice appeared out of nowhere, suddenly clad in a two piece swimsuit. She jumped in, and the force of the jump was enough to make waves that knocked the pack to the edge of the pool, and even knocked som of them out of the pool! I didn't laugh. Not supposed to laugh underwater, you know. That whole breathing thing.

I smiled as Alice was followed by Emmett, and Bella. I was half-certain that I saw Alice drag Rosalie in, and Emmett throw Jasper in.

How could my troubles be so bad? How could my life be so hellish if a place so heavenly as the bottom of the pool coexisted with it? What would be the worst that would happen if Jacob found out that I had imprinted on him? He would never leave Renesmee. No, of course not! They were perfect for each other, in every single way! But what _was _worst he could do?

Beat me up? Probably not. He could try, of course, but Renesmee and I were friends (although I was lovin' on her wolf). Bella and I were friends. Edward and I were friends. He would have to deal with them.

I shivered. The water seemed momentarily colder at this thought. Jacob versus the Cullens. Not fun. Not at all.

I suddenly realized I needed to breathe. I swam as fast as I could to the surface, breaking it with a gasp. Crap. Gotta breathe next time, I reminded myself.

My lungs heaved until my breathing was regulated again, and then darted back to the bottom.

I violently fought back a gasp when my face slammed into something hard, and stony. The bottom of the pool? No, the pool was metal.

It was Alice. She was sitting on the bottom of the pool, and I had slammed right into her.

"Watch it, silly," she said.

WHOA!

She _said_ it! The vampires could talk underwater as clearly as if they weren't in the water!

I tried not to gasp again, and shot back up the surface, and broke it with a huge gasp for air when I grabbed the side of the pool for support. Alice was next to me in a split second.

"Hey, there, silly bean," she sang, sitting on the edge of the pool, her skin super-shiny from the water.

"Hiya," I sighed in between breaths.

Alice was smiling brilliantly at me. I smiled back, heaving myself up to sit beside her. She kicked her feet in the water gracefully, but it had just as much a reaction as her diving did, creating a whirlpool in the middle of the pool. I couldn't help but laugh loudly when it sucked Jared under. He resurfaced two seconds later, gasping for breath.

Alice was still smiling, glancing only for a second towards Jared, laughing, before she turned her gaze back to me.

This time, I looked back at her, my face contorted in an awkwardly confused stare.

"You're staring," I said, although I doubted she needed to be told.

"So are you, Seth," she said, her eyes sparkling.

I had a sudden feeling of shock in the pit of my stomach when I realized something important...

Edward must have told her. Of course. She wouldn't have "seen" it, with her special ability, of course.

"Edward told me," she whispered, so low only I could hear.

My face turned down, but I tried to force it back up a little bit, turning my face into a frightened grimace. I felt a lump form in my throat, and the fault line on my heart tremble unsteadily.

My hand twitched toward my chest, but I held it down.

I leaned toward her, shaking like crazy. I whispered into her ear, and my voice cracked.

"H-...I d-..."

"Seth, its okay," her sing-songy voice whispered into my ear.

What? Okay? No. I didn't believe that. For one thing, I was helplessly in love with a _guy_! And another thing, I was falling apart on the inside, and my heart was waiting for the moment when I couldn't control my mind, and Jacob found out. My heart stuttered at the thought of that. It took a second for me to regain control.

"No," I whispered, mortified and wounded. "It's never okay."

Alice's angelic smile disappeared. The face that replaced it was enough to send another ripple through my heart. I felt tears form in my eyes when I saw her face.

It was broken, like she had just witnessed her best friend, or her brother, dying in a tragic car crash, or from a concussion. It was a face of helplessness.

My face crumpled in response, but I forced myself to regain my composure, as did Alice. She was better at it, and her angelic smile soon reappeared on her face.

"Seth, believe me," she said, but I could sense the pain on the back edge of her voice, pleading with me. "_Everything_ is alright."

Reassurance began to revitalize my cold fingers, warming them, though they didn't physically need it. Alice's words, the way she said them, the truth and pleading behind them had broken through my shell a little.

"You have no idea what the future holds for you, or for Jacob," whispered Alice. "And neither do I."

I couldn't help but smile, and laugh the tiniest bit at this. Alice's apparent "blindness" involving the future of the wolf pack, or Renesmee, was one of the funniest things, but it was also a little sad for Alice. Being clouded like this made her uncomfortable, although she was used to it after a year and a half of it.

"But just because we don't know what the future holds doesn't mean its bad," she went on, putting her cold hand on my scorching shoulder. "Wow, you feel really warm."

Crap. I could already feel a bad pun coming on.

"Probably cuz you got the hots for Jacob!" she whispered. She laughed again, the sound drifting through the air like wind chimes.

I shoved her shoulder playfully, although the action had no affect besides pushing me away. Noticing my failed attempt, she dramatically swayed to the left and made a groaning sound. Then she flicked her head back to me and smiled. This smile was cautious though, like she was waiting for something. What was she waiting for? For me to prove I was nuts? Ha.

I smiled back anyway, and my smile was interrupted by a sudden movement beneath us.

Jasper's hands (I recognized them by the scars) suddenly shot from the water, and grabbed Alice's ankles. Before she had time to squeal (she wouldn't have seen it coming because I was beside her), she was underwater.

I was glad that Jazz and Alice weren't as flamboyant about their relationship as Emmett and Rose. With Rosalie and Emmett, I would have expected them to suddenly start making out, but Alice gave Jasper a peck on the cheek before they swam slowly (or I guess it was slowly, for a vampire) towards the other end of the pool.


	5. Broken Memories

**DISCLAIMER!!!: I do NOT own anything used in this fanfic!!! Everything belongs to SMeyer!!!  
**

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~-~SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~Pain by Jimmy Eat World~-~

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~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

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5. BROKEN MEMORIES

The party was over around midnight. Carlisle graciously thanked us for before we all loaded up into our cars and went home.

I felt very mopey when I got home. This wasn't at all usual for me. Maybe the party had left me drained: mentally, physically, _and_ emotionally.

Worry taunted my sanity from the brim of my subconscious as I sit on my bed, mp3 player in hand and headphones in my ears. Alice, I knew, wouldn't tell anyone. Not even Jasper. I closed my eyes and turned the music up until it was impossible to think. One of the many ways I would numb my mind before phasing. It worked better than a charm.

_There's no where left to hide,_

_In no one to confide._

_The truth burns deep inside,_

_And will never die._

Sing For Absolution, by Muse... One of their slower songs. One of their songs that I didn't listen to much, because it reminded me of...

I hit the "skip" button.

_Hey, don't write yourself off yet._

_It's only in your head you feel left out._

_Or looked down on..._

Ha. No. Not helping.

_Why does it feel like night today?_

_Something in here's not right today._

_Why am I so uptight today?_

_Paranoia's all I got left._

No! Why did every song I pick remind me of... of-

I tugged the headphones out of my ears. (Note to self: that was kinda painful.) My hands found their way up to cover my face, and I let my head fall, placing my face on my knees.

_Okay,_ I thought. _Try again._

_They're gonna clean up your looks,_

_With all the lies in the books,_

_To make a citizen out of you._

Finally, something painless to listen to!

I let Gerard Way's voice fill my mind, clearing it of everything else. All the worry had to vanish, all of it. Already, I could feel the haze in my head lifting. My God, did it need it.

The sensation was almost like deja vu. There was something else, besides music, that always cleared my mind, made me forget everything else, turned me into a carefree, happy punk again... Someone's voice.

No!

I cranked the volume up higher. If I needed to break my freaking eardrums, then fine. Anything to keep _him_ out of my head.

Sanity slowly resurfaced... The darkness of the room around me was beginning to affect my consciousness. Sleep could be good for me, I guessed. Sleeping was better than being awake. Unconsciousness was so much better than sitting wide awake, with memories and worry swimming all around me, waiting for me to let down my guard one more time.

No. I refused to let my guard down. The music wasn't hurting my ears like it would have two months ago. I had gotten a little used to the blaring music and the bloodcurdling bass that erupted constantly from my headphones.

I mouthed the words of the song, distracting myself.

_...because they sleep with a gun,_

_And keep an eye on you, son,_

_So they can watch all the things you do._

The music was growing quieter somehow. Crap, I must have unplugged the headphones a little bit. I looked down at the black mp3 player in my left hand. It seemed to be connected fine, but the light from the screen hurt my eyes.

My body was trying to force sleep upon me.

Defiance swept through me, and I whipped my head upwards, trying to sit up. A knee-jerk reaction if there ever was one. The action made me incredibly dizzy.

A low groan filled my ears. The headphones had fallen onto the pillow beside me. It took me a little too long to realize the groan had come from me. Another knee-jerk reaction to the dizziness this time.

I felt incredibly groggy. The last few almost sleepless weeks (excluding when I was at Jake's) were suddenly crashing down on me in one fell swoop.

I probably wouldn't even wake up tomorrow until noon. Maybe. If I didn't dream.

The mind numbing had worked. That mixed with the fatigue made it so I could barely even think straight. Good. Maybe, just maybe, the feeling would overlap into tomorrow, so that I could phase. Or maybe I wouldn't need to phase. Don't get me wrong, I loved being a werewolf overall, but the mind-sharing thing really set me off.

I sat up straight, and pinched my arm as hard as I could without drawing blood or inflicting permanent damage. The pain wasn't as bad as it should have been, but it woke me up. For however long it would keep me awake anyway.

Yeah. I loved being a werewolf. Mostly. The whole no-secrets thing was bad. At least I was willed enough to resist it partially.

There had been a few close calls though. Four times.

The first wasn't bad. The image of Jacob's face, smiling with glee, had broken through my numbness the first time I tried to clear my mind, after the week I was "sick". No one gave it a second thought. Literally. I could tell.

The second wasn't near as close though. Instead of Jacob's face this time, the thought of his body, specifically his arms, had slipped through my shield. Thank God, the only one of the pack that had phased was Iliana, the only other girl wolf besides Leah, but she is way too young to fully understand what I was thinking, and I phased back before she really realized who it was that had thought that. She didn't give it a second thought either.

It was the third one that really freaked me out.

Probably the most dangerous thought I had ever had. The night before, I had dreamed that I was sitting by Jacob, holding hands with him, resting my head on his shoulder as we both stared silently at the full moon above us. But Renesmee had appeared, a look of shock and betrayal crossing her glorious face.

Embry, Paul, and Collin were the only one phased, but Sam was on his way. I didn't even remember how it got back into my head, because I had spent _hours_ blocking that memory out.

But I had the willpower to skip through the whole thing, right to Renesmee's face, not even remembering why her face was so shocked. The other three just thought I was crushing on Nessie, which would never happen. Pretty as she was, the thought of her sent painful shockwaves through my mutilated heart.

The fourth was nearly the same as the third. Leah caught a glimpse of Nessie's face from the back of my mind, and also thought I had a crush on Renesmee.

Another memory edged into my mind:

A bonfire. Bella in Jacob's arms, human and tired-looking. Kim and Jared sitting closely. My mother. The pack. And the council leaders just finishing the old stories...

_"Burden," _Quil had scoffed in a low voice. _"I think it's cool."_

I had nodded my head. By then, I had been a werewolf for about two months. And I loved it. I really loved it.

Trial after trial came. Being left out of the battle against the newborn vamps. Fighting Victoria and Riley alongside Edward, protecting Bella. Breaking off of Sam's pack to join Jacob's. Protecting Bella and Renesmee from the rest of the wolves. Getting my collarbone broken (no big deal, though) by Bella.

Seeing Jacob in pain.

Even though I wouldn't imprint on him for almost a year, it still hurt to see my best friend hurting so much.

And then I imprinted on him.

There was only one pain that matched the pain I suffered over Jacob. This pain maybe even overpowered the pain about Jake.

The pain in knowing that I was the cause of my father's death.

Tears welled in my eyes at the broken, suppressed memory.

Leah and I had been in a fight. It was the worst fight we ever had. I barely even remembered the stupid reason that we had been arguing in the first place. Oh, yeah: She had set a book I was reading on fire. I had walked outside that morning, around seven, to take the trash out, and there, in the backyard, Leah stood, the book engulfed in flames at her feet. That book had been somewhat special, because Dad gotten it for me on my birthday.

I remember dropping the trash and running at her. I had knocked her off her feet, but she landed a kick in the groin. I had doubled over in pain, but I got up and pushed her into a tree. She hit her head hard. That's when Dad came outside.

Leah transformed first.

It was the most terrible thing I had ever witnessed.

Her whole body shook like an earthquake, and then she exploded into a gray wolf. She threw me off of her, and I hit a tree, about 30 feet away. The anger I felt towards her turned into fear. The adrenaline rush sent me into a frenzy.

That's when I first phased. I remembered the pain, the overwhelming fear, the sudden heat. I didn't have time to attack Leah, which was my sole intention now. But I could hear her _thoughts._

Her first thought wasn't even coherent. It was like a muted scream, and then a sob of terror.

_Holy hell, _was her next thought.

And then-

_Dad._

Everything blurred then. I remember that my eyes locked on one single image: the image of my father's terrified face when he saw Leah and I.

Somehow, I phased back. When I awoke, I was in the middle of the forest outside of my house. I had only fleeting, strange memories. For a reason I didn't remember, Sam's voice had echoed through my head, trying to get me to calm down. I couldn't remember being uncalm though... Then I heard Jacob's voice, frantic, panicked. He was looking for Bella.

That's when I lost consciousness I suppose.

It was only after I sneaked home and got clothes (for some reason I did not know, I was naked) that I remembered my father's face.

Terrified, shocked. And then in pain.

I called Sam first. He was already on the way to my house. I hung the phone up and then broke down. I cried. It had been a while since I had cried. But these tears were fierce, relentless, but they were needed.

Sam, with Emily and Jared, drove me to the hospital. They said that Leah was somewhere near Seattle, and refused to phase back. They told me all about what had happened to me. But more importantly, what had happened to my dad.

I couldn't cry when I saw Dad on the hospital bed. The tears were all dried up.

He looked so suddenly frail, though he wasn't much older than Charlie.

I ran from the hospital in a broken frenzy, and phased. I didn't stop running, even when the others tried to calm me down. I was in so much pain. I wouldn't stop. I couldn't stop.

I broke off from this memory, and realized I was silently crying.

I reached up with my right hand and felt the tears on my cheek. There were a lot of them. I sighed. I had cried myself to sleep more than once when the memory of that fateful night many times. It had been more than a year since my father's passing.

The pain over Dad and the pain over Jacob were battling each other fiercely.

For the millionth time, I fell asleep, with two different kinds of tears streaming down my face.

A bitter, confused, cold kind for Jacob.

And a sad, broken, yet warm kind for Dad.

* * *

**Poor Seth. :/**

**~FinalLifeline~**


	6. Explosions

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything used in this story! All elements belong to Stephenie Meyer! :D**

**

* * *

**

~-~SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~I'm So Sick by Flyleaf~-~

~-~Clocks by Coldplay~-~

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

6. EXPLOSIONS

Light spilling in through the window blinds woke me. I hadn't dreamed anything last night! That was good news!

No dreaming meant no extra stuff to block outta my mind when I phased. I prayed I didn't have to phase today.

As I brushed my teeth, I thought.

I thought about that first week after I had no more excuses to stay away from Jake and the rest of the pack. One of the hardest weeks of my life. No, it was THE hardest week.

I remembered being told about the feeling of uncontrolled love and commitment. And I remembered having to lock myself in my room for hours on end when someone Jacob was mentioned at all. I had to keep myself from running to him and giving my life to him. I remembered not phasing that whole week. I had been all smiles around him anyway though, when I let myself be around him, when I could keep myself under control. It was impossible not to be happy around him. He was like the sun, lighting a perpetually cloudy area of the world.

I knew that I was different now, as Jake had pointed out to me yesterday. I was not as bright and happy. Mostly because of being tired, but I knew that when I really did get to sleep, real sleep, I would be mostly back to myself.

But part of me was damaged. Damaged worse than I could imagine, worse than Jake could even comprehend, in all his suspicions and ideas.

But I also knew that someday, (and I could guess it would be soon, since I had no idea how much self-control I had left) he would find out. And I could almost guarantee that hell would break loose. He would go back on his own promise:

_ Seth, you know you can tell me anything, right?..._

No, he wouldn't go back on it. I could tell him, sure, but how he would react would break me in two.

I put my toothbrush back into the toothbrush cup thingy and walked to the kitchen, wearing jeans, again, and a deep blue shirt, almost black, but not quite.

Leah and Mom were sitting at the bar, cookies in their hands.

"Morning, honey," Mom said carefully. I wondered why.

"Morning," I replied. My voice sounded a little more well rested than I felt. I walked over to the clock. It was almost noon.

"You scream pretty loud, you know," Leah taunted, extenuating the 't's in 'pretty'.

I turned to her, confusion masking my features.

"What?" I asked, leaning on the counter.

"You screamed last night," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

No way. I had been sure I hadn't! Maybe I always screamed while I slept anyway, no matter if I dreamed or not.

"Oh yeah?" I retorted, sudden venom in my voice. "Well, I should've screamed louder, then shouldn't I? Maybe next time I will! And I'll scream so loud it'll break your freaking eardrums!"

It took me too long to realize I had been yelling at her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open in shock at my explosion. Thinking about Jacob had made me very irritable.

"Well, um," Mom said, shifting awkwardly in her chair.

"Have a cookie, Sethie," Leah said suddenly, back to her annoying self. She grabbed a cookie and tried to press it past my lips into my mouth. "Cookies make it all better, yes they do!"

She was talking the way a babysitter would talk to a baby. My hand flashed towards her hand, and knocked the cookie out of her hand and onto the counter. I never even looked away from her.

Leah's eyes followed the cookie, her eyes wide in shock at my explosion again.

Then she was looking back at me, the taunting glint in her eyes again.

"Somebody forgot their medicine," she sang.

The straw that broke the camel's back. Or the wolf's back. Either way-

I gripped the counter with both hands and pursed my lips, glaring at her instead of punching her in the throat like I so badly wanted to. Sudden tremors erupted from my back, and I knew I had to get myself back together before I exploded into the sandy colored wolf that I so badly wanted to avoid right now.

My eyes flew to Mom, who's eyes were wide with fear.

"Uh," she whispered, frightened. "If you're going to do this, do it outside."

But I was already regaining control. Only my hands were vibrating now, and that would be gone in a few seconds too.

"I'm fine," I said, calming my voice with my body.

I turned around, and walked out the door to the back porch.

My mind was spitting out a million profanities towards Leah. I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could get them to, and clutched at the porch rail to keep myself from exploding.

I carefully opened my eyes, totally under control again. I stood very still for a minute or two. The sensation of almost phasing had ruined my morning. Especially since it was in front of Mom.

Leah. The devil-incarnate, I could swear it. When was she going to go to college?! Did she stay home just to bug me until my insides started bleeding? Obviously.

My back started to ripple again. It was stronger this time. Suddenly panicked, I ran off the porch and towards the forest, every part of me shaking. When I was out of sight of the house, I pulled off my clothes (tying them to the leather cord around my leg), and let the transformation take control of me.

The familiar violent vibrating filled me, the intensity of it ripping me apart. I forced my mind-numbing from the night before fill my body as the rippling climaxed, and I exploded into the tan werewolf I was so used to.

In one instant, I could tell who was in wolf form. Sam, Iliana, Michael, and Brady. And Jacob, but who cares about Jacob, right?

I instantly fell into the pattern I always did. I stood quite still for a while, getting used to being an animal again, and consumed a few seconds with mentally describing the scenery around me, barely noticing the many minds I could hear, no matter how far away.

_Emily's brownies are really good... I want some chocolate..._

Iliana.

_Hey, Seth. Oh, he's not even listening._

Jacob.

_Dang, I _really_ gotta pee!_

Brady.

_Go by a tree._

Michael.

_No! Don't do that!_

Sam.

Then I began repeating the lyrics to Teenagers by My Chemical Romance, thanks to my mind-numbing from last night.

_They're gonna clean up your looks with all the lies in the books to make a citizen out of you..._

I didn't even remember the reason that I was distracting myself, or what I was distracting myself from, and I didn't really care. The numbing was working, and before long, my mind was like an mp3 player, and I was singing mentally along with it.

_Because they sleep with a gun and keep an eye on you, son, so they can watch all the things you do..._

There was no uncomfortable worry on the edge of my sanity, simply nothing, almost as if there was no edge at all. Like my sanity was complete.

_...because the drugs never work..._

And then I started running. I didn't think about it at all. I was suddenly running as fast as I could through the thick forests of La Push, right towards First Beach. I had no intention of actually going to First Beach.

I would go to to the La Push General Store. That would work just fine...

..._they gonna give you a smirk cuz they got methods of keepin you clean..._

Before thirty seconds were up, I was in the middle of the forest, about half a football field away from the road to the store. I phased back, and pulled my clothes back on. No shoes, of course.

After making sure I looked like every other teenage moron around here, I walked the rest of the way to the store.

On the door, it said "No shoes, no shirt... nah who am I kidding, come on in."

I laughed at the sign before I walked in.

Hm, I thought. I didn't really need anything. Well, except a new pair of pants, maybe.

I looked around for a few seconds. The logically designed store was comforting, a welcome shift from the illogical contours of my mind.

I picked out a pair of dark blue jeans, and went to the checkout. After applying the ten dollars I had in my pocket to get the jeans, and a RockStar energy drink, I walked out, and started chugging the drink. I drank a lot of these lately, to keep myself alive- I mean, awake. Although the two walked hand in hand.

Sort of.

I crushed the can in my hand easily, and chucked it into the trash bin outside the store before I left.

* * *

Leah eyed the new jeans in my hands with indifference when I walked into the living room. She had her feet propped up on a footrest thing, sitting in Dad's old rocking chair, with the remote control clutched in her hand. She turned back to the TV, and stared at it apathetically.

I walked past her, into the kitchen. The house seemed empty besides Leah and I.

"Where's Mom?" I asked. She didn't seem to be around.

"She went to visit Charlie," Leah replied, not even glancing my way.

"Oh," I said, and sat down at the counter. I grabbed a cookie, and nibbled on it. I turned back towards the TV and then to Leah, who looked like she wasn't even paying attention to it. Something blue and silver glinted from beside Leah.

"What's that?" I asked, mouth slightly full, gesturing toward the blue-and-silver cell phone sitting beside Leah on the side-coffee table. It looked like it had a pink sticky note on it.

"Charlie dropped it off for you," she replied, her tone slightly bitter.

Charlie? Why would Charlie give me a phone? It wasn't my birthday, so I could count that out... But that phone looked much too expensive to be from Charlie. No offense to Charlie.

"Charlie?" I asked, my brow furrowing in confusion.

"Yeah," she said, but I could almost taste her tone turn acidic. "_Alice_ got it for you. She got Charlie to drop it by."

"Alice?" Just as confusing as if Charlie had gotten it for me.

Nevertheless, I hopped out of my seat and half-ran to the table, snatching up the phone in my right hand. I took it back to my seat, reading the sticky note as I went.

Hey Seth! Call me as

soon as you get the phone!

~ Alice ~

And her number was written on the back.

I stared at the phone in my hand. I snorted. Unbelievable. Alice had gotten me a _phone!_ Flipping the phone over in my hand, I admired it. It was probably the most expensive phone in the world. Probably the most durable too. I wouldn't be surprised if it came with a rocket launcher or something.

A deep ache in the pit of my stomach hit me, almost making me double over as I realized the reason behind this.

It had something to do with _him_.

I half-sprinted to my bedroom, closing the door softly so Leah didn't get suspicious. I stood in the middle of the messy room, and flipped the phone open. My fingers flew across the keypad so fast they started to hurt, and I had the phone to my ear before it even started to ring on the other end.

Alice answered a few seconds later than she would have been if someone else (not a werewolf) had been calling her, because of her blindness to the wolves.

"Hey Seth," she said. Of course, _she_ would know who it was, even if she couldn't see.

"Hey," I whispered, my voice shaking slightly.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice cautious. Maybe she was trying not to break me.

"That depends," I whispered, too low for human ears to detect. I would bet that she heard it. "Is this call about...Jake?"

I cringed. Every time I said his name would make it harder for me to block him out the next time I phased.

"Sort of," she replied. Her voice was lovely. "It has more to do with imprinting. You wanna find out how you imprinted on him?"

I mentally thanked her for not saying his name aloud.

"Yeah," I replied, truthfully. I really did want to know. It had bugged me since it happened.

"Yay!" she said, her voice shooting up through two octaves. "Do you trust me enough to go to Port Angeles with me?"

Port Angeles. Not even wondering why we would be going there, I responded:

"Sure, sure." An automatic response I had picked up from Jacob, although I used it in a more excited tone here. I could feel a grin stretch across my face.

"Okay!" she said, her voice getting the tiniest bit lower. "There's a Quileute bookstore there, called Dryleaf and Hazel, on Hazel Street, ironically! And if we don't find what we're looking for there, the local library will be just around the corner!"

Her excitement was infectious. I hopped up and down once.

"Yes!" I said, a little louder. "This is exactly what I need, Alice! When do we leave?"

"Right now if you want!" Alice replied, so excited it made me hop again. "I'll drive to Charlie's and you can meet me there, k?"

"Yeah!" I said, smiling wider. "What do I do with the phone?"

"It's yours, keep it!" she said. "See ya there!"

"K!"

* * *

After calling Mom on my new phone (YAY!), I got dressed for the trip. I dressed nice, on the off chance that Alice decided to give me a makeover while we were in Port Angeles. Maybe if I looked better, she wouldn't feel the need. Besides, if she did, the clothes were likely to get ruined anyway.

I deflected a few insulting questions from Leah (what was with her today?!) before I drove to Charlie's house in my used car, a red Dodge Neon. I barely used it, since I either walked or ran in wolf form everywhere. It still smelled good. The former owners had taken care of it extremely well, and it still smelled relatively new, although it must be about seventeen years old. Almost as old as me.

Alice's canary yellow Porsche was right outside. It was empty.

I walked up the steps to the front door and knocked. Alice answered, as dazzling as ever. I looked down at her and smiled. She smiled back, flashing her white teeth.

"Hey there," Alice said, her voice like wind chimes again.

"Thanks for the phone!" I said, grinning at the thought that I had a new means of communication.

"Well, it does make it easier for me to know if you do anything stupid," she joked, nudging me in the ribs. I pretended to clutch my side in pain as she laughed. More wind chimes.

"Hey, there, kiddo!" Charlie grinned from behind Alice. "Alice here was just telling me about your clothing dilemma."

I blinked, but didn't stop smiling. Oh! Alice had told everyone she was taking me shopping for more clothes to cover up. Hm. Dressing nice didn't really help that story. Alice rolled her eyes, but the motion was too quick for Charlie to catch. Charlie didn't seem to notice how I was dressed.

"Yep," I replied, keeping with Alice's facade. "It's pretty bad."

"Well, Charlie, we gotta get going!" Alice sang, pecking Charlie on the cheek before she put her put her arm around mine. "See you later!"

The statue-like little vampire pulled me towards her car with no trouble at all.

"See ya kids!" Charlie said as we climbed in. He waved.

I waved back. "See ya, Charlie!"

Alice and I closed our doors in unison, and she had the key twisted and the push-button ignition started before I had time to take a breath.

Then, we let the pavement fly out from beneath our tires.

* * *

**Okay, this was a fun chapter to write. Lol :D**

**~FinalLifeline~**


	7. Questionnaire

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything used in this fanfiction, and everything used belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer!**

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~Hysteria (Muse)~-~

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

7. QUESTIONNAIRE

Alice whipped her head toward me as soon as we were out of Charlie's sight.

"Put your seatbelt on," she said, her lips moving so fast it was almost a blur.

I obediently followed that instruction, and she put hers on too, although she could probably drive us off the end of the earth and walk away smiling.

I turned towards the road. We were moving a little too fast for me to concentrate on conversation.

"Hey, Alice," I said, trying to sound as polite as I could be. "Would it be alright if we slowed down a bit? I wanna talk about J-.... about... things."

She was already slowing down.

"Absolutely, Seth," she said, grinning at me empathetically, although I doubted she had ever been through something like I was enduring. "What do you want to talk about?"

As if she couldn't guess.

"Well..." I began, heaving a low sigh. I glanced towards the speedometer and then back to Alice. "It's about Jake. Edward can read his mind, and I've been trying _so_ hard to keep him or anyone else from knowing... But I've screwed up a few times, and one of those times was really close. Has Edward found out any... I mean, is there any chance that... that any of them could know?"

Saying "any of them" made me feel very alienated, like I didn't belong anymore. But saying "that Jacob could know?" would only make me feel worse. Alice would probably not like it if I hurled in her nice car.

"The pack, I mean," I corrected, just to make myself feel better.

"Well," she began.

I winced, and bit my lip. What could Edward have heard? Had one of the pack guessed?

"It's kind of complicated." I winced again. "Seth, I know you've been busting your... your... well, you've been working really hard to keep anyone from knowing...."

I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. This could be bad.

"But Edward has been catching glimpses..." she sighed, and pursed her lips. She didn't like this any more than I did. "Sam has been thinking about the possibility that you've imprinted on Jacob, but he doesn't think it's possible. He hasn't gone to the tribe council yet, but he might. And if he does, it will be soon."

I sighed and opened my eyes. The last thing I needed was the tribe council finding out about this. Especially not if it meant Jacob finding out. But there was another way he could find out.

"There's something else too. I've been wondering how Jacob would react if I told him."

Alice's tiny brow furrowed, and she glanced toward the road before looking back towards me.

"Edward and I spoke about this last night," she said as we rounded a corner. "He's been listening to Jacob very closely lately. Jacob thinks a lot about how he would react to things, but nothing this monumental. _My _guess is that he'll go into shock for a minute, maybe two."

I sighed. I knew this was coming. Might as well put a brave face on it.

"But," she continued unexpectedly. I hadn't seen a handle coming.

"But, he wouldn't be angry. He would be pretty confused for a few seconds, but he'd know that you had no choice in the matter, and that you would change it if you could."

"Yeah," I said automatically.

I felt a low ache in my stomach. This was good news, why was my stomach in knots?

"Seth?" Alice said, her voice slightly higher. "Seth, you're turning green."

"What?"

"You're-"

Her eyes widened, and she suddenly pulled over. She ignored the honks of the drivers behind us, and swerved from the outside lane to the edge of lane used by cyclists. She put the car in park and unlocked the doors.

"What're you doing?" I demanded, an unknown and unreasoned anger rising into my tone. My arms were wrapped around my stomach, and I felt nauseated.

"We're stopping so you don't get sick."

"I'm not sick!" I said sharply.

"Seth, if you need to, um, puke, then get out and get it out of your system-"

"Alice, I'm fine, just keep driving!" I said the last half of the sentence through clenched teeth, my voice hinted with venom. Why was I being angry with Alice? I had absolutely no reason to be!

Alice flinched. Her lips squeezed into a tight line and she closed her eyes.

Oh. My face fell from anger into a guilty grimace.

"Alice, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to yell."

Alice shifted, and her lips turned up into a smile, but I could tell that my sharp words had hurt her.

"It's... fine," she stuttered. "It's not that. I saw something. And it wasn't good."

My eyes widened. Something not good.

"What was it?" I asked, my tone speckled with worry and fear.

"Nothing, it's nothing," she replied, her tone still shaky. Alice still hadn't opened her eyes. She was still searching the ever-shifting future.

But she had her eyes open and her hand on the steering wheel before I had time to fully analyze the things that she might have seen, or might be seeing right now.

Alice exhaled and smiled again. Of course, her future was happy. It was the future of others that she was concerned about. It wasn't me, because she couldn't see me. It couldn't be Jacob for the same reason it wasn't me. One of her family? Jasper? No, she would've turned the car around and headed home for Jasper. Maybe she wouldn't even take the car with her. Just run to save her love.

Then I realized what the pain in my gut had been. I wasn't sick, I had already put that on the table. The pain had been a similar feeling to that which my heart felt. The sudden ripple, the unquenchable fire, and the ripping apart. But it was not a reaction to the fact that I could never have Jacob, no matter how I tried, if I ever did. And I wouldn't.

The pain was set off because somewhere deep down, I knew what Alice said was all wrong. And she knew it. She knew me, because Edward had told her everything.

And now I knew myself better, but this new part I had learned of was bittersweet and strange. I _didn't_ want to change it, didn't really want to change the fact that I was unrequited-ly and illogically in love with my best friend in the entire universe. I didn't want to change the fact that Jacob's voice was my panacea, my magic cure-all elixir, the only thing that could fix me, heal me entirely. I had no choice in the way I felt.

But if I did...

"So, Seth," said Alice, breaking my sad reverie. "What do you want to do today?

"I thought we were getting that book," I said, confused.

"Seth, that'll take a few minutes! We have the whole day!" she sang, happiness dancing on her tongue. "We could go to the mall, or eat at some kind of cool restaurant! Well, I mean, you would eat, duh, but I'd pretend to be your date! Maybe some of the Port Angeles girls will take a liking to you and maybe it'll take your mind off-"

Alice broke of abruptly, but it still stung a little, right before she restarted full throttle.

"Ooh! And we can go to the mall!"

"You already said that, Alice," I said, grinning at her and raising my eyebrows.

"I did?" she said innocently. She scoffed, snapped her fingers dramatically. "Shoot! I'm not being very imaginative, am I? How about music, then? I heard there was a concert in town tonight! I'm sure I could sweet talk our way in," she added thoughtfully.

A concert... screaming fans, blaring music... Not a good idea. My ears were abused enough from the mind-numbing the night before.

"Maybe not a concert," I said, feeling a little guilty when she started making the puppy dog face. Ugh. Those eyes. "At least not tonight."

"Okay!" Alice chimed, her voice back to its cheerful soprano. "CD's then? Edward thinks your inventory is too limited."

She was adamantly determined to make me at least a little bit happier.

"Sure," I gave in, grinning again. Anything to get my mind off of-

* * *

The old bookstore was there, the vivid purple sign with russet-colored letters standing out on the faded gray road.

_Dryleaf and Hazel_ was a very nice little shop, filled with all sorts of old Quileute, Hoh, and Makah relics. All three tribes had their own section. The sections were well-lit, and many books resided in all three areas.

The old man at the counter was of Quileute lineage, and I could tell by the look on his face when we entered the shop that he had heard and believed the old stories. He eyed Alice with suspicion, but didn't seem to give it a second thought when he saw that I, a mere human by the looks of me, was with her. Maybe he thought I was for lunch.

"If I can help you with anything," he said, his voice saturated in kindness, "let me know."

Alice smiled brilliantly at him, and he nodded, smiling the tiniest bit. Then the pixie-like little vampire pulled me over to the Quileute section, skipping merrily as she went. She stood quite still for a few moments, except for her eyes, which scanned over the books on the shelves before she grabbed three books off the shelves.

All three were concerning the old Quileute werewolf legends, but these legends didn't seem familiar to me.

_Quileute Legends of the Wolf-Man. _ A simple enough title. On the cover was the silhouette of a man, with legs spread and arms lifted high. In one hand, he held half of an arrow, and in the other, the skin of some kind of animal. Behind him, almost matching him, was the gray silhouette of a wolf.

_Imprint of the Werewolves _looked almost useful, but maybe not the right kind. The cover displayed a man kissing a woman, with a wolf-ish creature behind him.

I didn't even get to see the title of the third book before Alice was flipping through the pages, reading at vampire speed.

She got to the second book, and then squealed quietly in delight.

"We've got it!" she whispered, exuberance filling her butterscotch eyes.

She put the other books back, and then pulled me to the counter. The man behind it smiled in a friendly way. I wondered if he was the tiniest bit afraid of Alice.

The old Quileute scanned the book and Alice handed him a twenty. He gave the book to me, and I slipped it into Alice's little blue purse. Before we walked out the door, the old man looked me in the eyes.

"Take care of yourselves," he said. His voice was similar to Billy's. I wondered if they were related.

"We will," I replied, smiling warmly.

He reached out his hand to shake mine. I took it. His eyes widened the littlest bit before he let go.

"Have a good day," he said, before smiling again.

Alice and I walked out the door. I half-smiled to myself and laughed a little. The man must have heard that the werewolves have unnaturally high temperatures.

"So where to next?" Alice asked as we pulled away.

"You guess, you're the psychic," I said jokingly, grinning once again. I didn't care where we went, I was just eager to find out what was wrong with my brain!

"Yeah, well, I guess I don't know then since I involved _you_ in the planning!" she retorted, sarcasm and melodrama practically dripping off her blood-red lips.

Laughter flitted through my lips. It sounded strange coming from my lips. I hadn't really laughed in a while. I had laughed when I needed to make sure Jake didn't think I was nuts, but I hadn't really laughed in so long. I felt bad about that too. We were still laughing as we pulled away and drove off.

The laughing didn't last much longer.

Alice turned stony again, more statuesque than I had seen her in months, maybe even since she found out about the Volturi coming for Nessie. My heart suddenly thumped faster. Whatever she was seeing, my subconscious was screaming at me that this wasn't good. Alice's eyes glazed over with sudden fear and a hint of loathing.

She suddenly whipped her head around, and spun the car around. I was thrown against the door.

"Alice!" I yelled, fear pouring into my mind. "What is going on?!"

She growled violently, shaking her head like a wild animal. She really looked like a vampire.

"No!" she yelled, slamming on the gas harder. Our trip was obviously over. "Why would Erica _do _that?!"

Erica? Who was Erica?

The phone was at her ear before I could blink.

"Bella!" she said, her lips in a tight line again. "What _happened?!" _

Alice's eyes were darker, and her expression was enraged.

"No!" she half-whispered, her voice horrified. "_Caius?_"

Caius. The name made the hair on my arms and neck stand on end. My eyes widened, and my lips pursed. I clenched my hands into fists. The Volturi was the very essence of the vampires, and one of the worst things to deal with now. The white-haired Caius had been entirely bent on killing Nessie and all who protected her last winter. Could this be something like that?

"Seth?" she said, turning to me with a confused look. She wasn't speaking to me, but about me. "Oh! Alright, here he is."

Alice held out the phone, and I took it hesitantly, my hair still standing on end.

"Hello?" I asked, my tone not cautious, but edgy and prepared.

"Seth!" Bella's voice rang through the receiver. "Something terrible has happened! We will need the pack's help on this again! We still don't know what is going to happen yet, but it won't be good at all! Will they help?"

"Yes," I answered. Of course we would.

"Thank you, Seth! Alice will tell you everything, then you will have to tell the pack," she said, her voice as frightened as I felt. Then the receiver went blank. I closed the tiny silver cell phone and put it in one of the cupholders.

Alice had not calmed, and she was staring forward. Her eyes were scared and uneasy. Something bad was happening, but now that the pack was involved, she couldn't see anything at all.

"Seth," she began, her lips still pursed together.

I twisted in my seat and turned towards her.

Alice's eyes glinted as she began the story that would change all our lives forever.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**

**~FinalLifeline~**


	8. Multiple

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything used in this story! All elements belong to Stephenie Meyer!!!**

* * *

**A/N: Just to let you know, this chapter has a LOT of information in it!**

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~-Newborn (Muse)-~-~

~-~-Points of Authority (Linkin Park)-~-~

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

8. MULTIPLE

"We first met the young ones a decade ago. They are without doubt the most unique group I have ever had the pleasure to meet." Alice's lips turned up a tiny bit; she must have liked this coven very much. "They moved into Seattle last month. They're vegetarians, like us. When we met them, they were not, but then there were only four of them. Two males and two females. Barron and Patrick make up the male side; Jennie and Erica take the female roles."

I caught a semi-second of unease when she said Erica's name. The Erica from the phone call, I could figure.

"There are two more of them now, but I don't know anything about them. From what Edward said, one of them is the reason for converting to our way of life.

"Barron and Jennie were both part of a failed newborn army attempt back in the nineties. Their army was obliterated, and they are the only survivors they know of.

"Patrick saved Erica from being slaughtered by a crazed newborn. Barron and Jennie joined their clan back in 1996. They stayed in Seattle for a year, but they found that their close proximity to the humans there made them much less inconspicuous.

"They left Seattle, and roamed around Canada for three years before the met the new ones. All I know about these newer comrades is that one was with the Denali Clan for a few years, which is the reason that the Seattle Coven is like us now. But now that they're back in Seattle, thanks to our wondrous way of life.

"Both of the new ones joined the coven in 1999, from what Edward found out."

She paused, probably thinking. I broke the momentary silence.

"What did you mean when you said the most _unique_?" I asked as casually as I could muster.

"They're all very young. Physically and in vampire age. Patrick, the oldest is fifteen in physical years, and thirteen years in vampire age, so he's really twenty-eight. One of the new ones is the youngest, thirteen physically and eight or nine vampiricly, I believe."

Alice deliberated again, before she started again, her tone hinted with wonder.

"I don't know barely anything about these new ones, but I suspect we'll find out more about them soon enough."

I could really care less about that now, I needed to know what was so dangerous now, what was going on?!

"And... what did Erica do? Alice, what is going to happen?"

"Erica...," she began, and her brow furrowed in frustration and sadness. "It wasn't so much what Erica did, but why she did it. We would have been better off if she hadn't done it, but she didn't know any better."

"But what did she do?"

"She attacked one of the Volturi."

"Caius?" I asked instantly, a reaction to hearing his name minutes earlier.

"No," she said forcefully, shaking her head in horror. "But the way he reacted to it, it might as well have been. Erica attacked one of the guard, Santiago. Ugh. An idiot if there ever was one, he is. She and Jennie were hunting right outside of Seattle, and Santiago sort of appeared.

"He seemed very friendly at first. But he started asking questions. Questions about our lifestyle, the Quileute wolves, and Renesmee. That was what made Erica suspicious. Caius hates our lifestyle, including the fact that we 'tolerate', as he puts it, a camaraderie with your pack, and he absolutely loathes Renesmee." Alice's eyes squinted and she pursed her lips.

"He's like some kind of sick freak out of Harry Potter. Like Voldemort incarnate. Sick, biased, prejudiced _leech_!" she spat.

I blinked at Alice. I had never heard any of the vamps use any of the pack's derogatory terms for vampires. Alice calling Caius a leech held the teeniest bit of irony.

"Erica got a tad defensive, because she considers the Denali's and us close family, even though we haven't seen them in years. Santiago took that as a threat. Technically speaking, Erica was only acting in defense. Santiago threatened all of us, and our way of life, saying that there would be nothing left of it after they were done.

"Erica attacked. Santiago escaped, and the other Seattle Coven members stopped her from following him. Caius knew about it within minutes. Threats galore, of course. I don't know if Aro is going along with it, but he very well might be."

I shivered uncontrollably. A sudden memory erupted into my head: the full moon shining like a streetlight above the forest. The kitchen of the ever-familiar little red house. The faint sound of the TV behind me. And the girl. The little vampire girl. With red eyes.

Her red eyes, so brilliant that there was no way she had been one of the Seattle coven. She was too young for that, even. She had looked maybe eight or nine. Maybe.

"Alice?" I asked. "We might have a war on our hands now, right?"

My voice was shaky and frightened.

"Yes, Seth," she said. "Another war."

* * *

~FROM JACOB BLACK'S POINT OF VIEW~

I let my head bob to the music. I mouthed the words as my hands tinkered with the underside of the lawn mower. One of my lesser projects, if I could say so myself. I finished twisting a part in place and stood up.

My bare feet glided to the push bar of the machine. I grabbed the starter cord and pulled. The engine roared to life, deafeningly. I jumped up. Finishing a project always hyped me up. Like crack. Haha.

The muscles of my face stretched into a wide grin. Now I could rest. I had barely slept at all last night, or the night before. I was up the whole night, working on this stupid lawn mower. But I did fall asleep once.

On the floor of my garage. I had a hammer sticking into my back the whole time.

I turned off the lawn mower. Spinning round towards the house, I grabbed my energy drink. Nos, of course. Couldn't live without it.

I opened the door to our little red house, ducking my head a bit so that I would fit through the stupid door. In our tiny living room, Dad was sitting in his wheelchair, his eyes glued to the TV.

"Hey, Dad," I said, gliding towards the kitchen. I flipped my hair behind my shoulder. Renesmee said she liked it that way. I sat my drink on the table before I said anything else. "I finished the freaking lawn mower. Thank God, the yard needs it. Bad."

My dad didn't turn his head, he just nodded and said, "Good" in an indifferent tone.

"Are Charlie and Sue coming over for the game?" I asked. The three were almost glued together nowadays. I hoped they were coming over, so I could go visit Nessie, and the rest of the Cullens.

"Yeah," he said. His tone was a tad more interested now. "They'll be over any minute. You can have Seth over again if you want to."

"Seth went up to Port Angeles with...Alice," I said. I deliberated on 'Alice'. Their sudden buddy-buddy-ness was more than weird, no matter how much Seth loved the vampires.

"Oh," he said.

"It's fine, I'm gonna head over to Nessie's place anyway." I motioned to the door with my thumb.

He risked a quick glance to me before turning back to the TV.

"Okay," he said, not all the way here anymore. "Have fun, Jake."

I grabbed my Nos energy drink before I ducked out the front door. I jogged to the red Rabbit, and hopped in the front seat, chugging a little more of the liquid energy when I twisted the key in the ignition and swerved out of the driveway and onto the road.

The familiar road was peaceful today. No kids running around, no steroid-pumping moronic teenagers street racing, and no blood-crazed vampires chasing little girls.

I drove slowly, taking in the cool air that was coming in through the open windows of my car thanks to the breeze. It smelled a bit like rain, too.

When my car approached the long unneeded treaty line, I slowed.

I could smell vampire. The sick, vomit-inducing scent suddenly exploded all around me like tear gas. Literal tears fogged my vision. My breathing quickened and I could already feel the tremors beginning to shake my spine. As my outline began to blur, I knew that this scent was not a Cullen. I had smelled it before.

Volturi.

I suddenly stopped shaking and slammed on the gas pedal as hard as I could. I worked as hard as I could to control the vibration that was painfully shaking my being.

I glanced at the speedometer. I wasn't going near as fast as I wanted to.

As much as I had to.

I remembered way too friggin' clearly the memory of the day last December when the Volturi and their army came to take my Renesmee away from me. My Renesmee.

When I reached the Cullen's house, I threw myself out of my car, not even bothering to shut the damn doors before I was sprinting uncontrollably into the house.

Many pairs of eyes met mine. Bright red, gold, and my favorite, the dark chocolate shade of Nessie's. I ran to Renesmee's side immediately, before even taking in who was here.

I looked up from Nessie's shoulder after I picked her up in a huge hug.

"Can't...breathe...Jake!" she had sputtered, exactly like her mother used to. Before she turned into an indestructible war machine.

Around the room, were scattered very many familiar eyes.

I knew the Amazonian vampires from last December. They were terribly tall. Huilen, the tiny black haired female seemed to have joined them. Her nephew, the other hybrid, Nahuel, was with them as well. His eyes were the color of warm teak.

The two sisters of the Denali coven were here, along with Garrett, their newest "recruit", but Carmen and Eleazar were absent from the group.

They all wore the same face of anxiety that was etched on my face.

The seriousness of this situation almost knocked me off of my feet.

If they were all gathered here, then history was about to repeat itself. But so quickly? Would the Volturi still be stupid enough to act when they were so outnumbered?

Oh.

But the Volturi were already here.

And we only had the five Amazonians, three of the five Denali's, the nine Cullens, and the seventeen of the Quileute wolf pack. Thirty-four.

No, thirty-two.

Alice and Seth were in Port Angeles.

But maybe they could make it back in time, before the Volturi decided they'd be better off if they weren't in the picture.

"The Volturi are coming," Carlisle said. His tone was calm, but disturbed. He hadn't expected them to act so soon, I guessed.

"And their coming soon," Bella said, partially through her bared teeth. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and her ice-white skin was even icier. "They have members of their damn guard posted all over the place."

"No where to go," Nessie said into my chest, her warm arms wrapped around me like vices. "No where to hide now."

"What can we do?" I asked, my tone shaken with sudden grief and anxiety. There might be no way to escape destruction now. No way to get my Nessie safe. It wasn't even her birthday yet. She would...die... being only a day away from her birthday if we all died today.

"Exactly," Rosalie whispered. "What _can_ we do?"

"There's no way we can get any more fighters in through their ranks," the tall blond-headed Jasper said from the couch. His face was buried in his marble hands. "We're alone."

I thought through the numbers quickly in my head. There had been thirty-two of the Volturi, including the wives, last December in the clearing. They had brought forty witnesses. There was no need for witnesses now. Only fighters.

There were thirty-one of us here. We were evenly matched then! What the hell were they all so depressed about? We had a chance to win! Slim, and unreasonable, but it was there!

"They've been breeding like crazy, Jacob," Edward said from behind me. His voice was colder than I had ever heard it before, even when we had been so close to dying before.

"Breeding? I thought-" I said, confusion ruling in my features.

Edward interrupted me.

"Breeding was the wrong term, I'm sorry," he corrected himself, closing his eyes and shaking his head solemnly. "They've been _infecting _like crazy."

"Caius and Aro have not been behaving themselves lately. Merely a few months after the confrontation in the meadow, Aro changed a young man with a gift like Eleazar's. Almost exactly like Eleazar's."

"Except ten thousand times more powerful," Tanya, the strawberry blonde sister of the Denali coven said, her tone also grief-ridden. She didn't like this any more than the others, like Rosalie.

"Trenton, one of the new guard members," Carlisle continued the thread of explanation, "has the ability to _taste_ every single person's power. Or potential power. He knows every human's potential ability, no matter how potent. He would even know if one of your young Quileute boys was destined to become what you are, Jacob. And his gift is omnipresent."

"He can taste every single one of us in this room," Edward whispered, horrified at the notion.

I shivered. The thought that we were all being, well, _tasted_ by some unseen vampire was entirely unnerving.

"He can't tell where we are, but he knows we're here, and what we can do," Jasper said, standing up and pacing to Esme's side. Esme was holding her sides and rocking side to side. "Aro has been using him to pinpoint the most powerful potential vampires in the world. We might as well be on fire now."

"Where are Seth and Alice?" I asked, ignoring his morbidity. A strange sensation tingled the back of my mind.

It was similar to what it felt like when I was with Renesmee. Why? I had no idea.

"They should be here any second," Edward said. "They're just crossing the line into the town."

"Wait! What if one of those bloodsuckers gets to them?!" I said at the same time Renesmee said, "How far away are they?!"

"They won't come near them," Edward answered me first. "They're waiting for Caius or Aro to decide to act. The Volturi aren't close enough for me to hear anymore, but Seth and Alice are. Alice is angry. Because the Volturi included the pack in their equation, she can't see a thing. She's going to have a spaz attack, I'm afraid."

"They're here," Renesmee said, answering her own question.

A strange, new sense of relief swept over me as Seth and Alice burst in through the door, and Alice sent shards of it flying. Her eyes might as well have been pitch black, although she had fed only a few nights before.

"I can't see a _thing_!!!" she roared, but it still sounded like music. "They counted the wolves among their stupid freaking plans this time, _didn't they?!?!_"

Alice was in a frenzy. I had never seen this part of her.

"Seth," she screamed, her voice higher. "Go and tell the wolves now!"

Seth nodded, and his eyes were frightened, but ready.

He gave me a funny look before speaking.

"Come on, Jake!" he said. "You'll need to hear this too!"

Seth had phased before I even got outside. I ran after him into the trees, tying my clothes around the cord before I erupted in an explosion of russet-colored shaggy wolf hair.

I could hear the thoughts of the others in my mind like foghorns as soon as I could think. They had known everything as soon as Seth had phased.

Then I knew everything.

_So this Seattle coven set this all off?!_ Paul was yelling.

_No! _Seth yelled back. _The Volturi would have done this anyway! It was just bad luck that they got to them before us!_

_No no no no! _Leah was sobbing. The events of last year had left her emotionally drained. This would be hell all over again for her.

_They're here to kill Nessie again?_ Iliana was asking, confused as ever.

That one stung a bit.

_Every one calm down!_ I said, the Alpha in my tone echoing through the group. Calm slowly crept into the minds of my pack.

They were all calmer, except for the anxiety tingling at the back of all of their thoughts.

I did a head count, sort of, to make sure everyone was here. Bella must have gotten them all together for this. The wolves were all in a half-circle, a half-moon. Their thoughts were all jumbled and close together, and more of a whisper than before. I stood tensely in front of this group.

One was missing from my head count. The sandy-furred wolf that had been with me only moments before was gone.

_Seth?_ I said mentally.

Nothing. He had phased back.

I shrugged it off. He already knew everything, of course. He didn't need to know anything else. I guessed he was heading back to the house.

Three strange images passed through Sam's mind. A lot of weird things went through Sam's head lately. But this one was a picture of Seth, last year, all happy and carefree. The second was Seth _now_. Taller, more mature physically. Less happy. Much less carefree. Sad. Apathetic. The third image sent shockwaves through all our minds.

It was an image of me.

* * *

FROM SETH CLEARWATER'S POINT OF VIEW

I hadn't been prepared at all. I had phased without a thought. My mind hadn't even had time to process the numbing from before. I was too tired.

I had put my sanity in danger.

Sam knew now, but the others didn't. They had been far too preoccupied to notice anything but my secondary thoughts, the danger we were all in.

And Jacob had been half a second away from knowing.

I was back in human form, dressed, but going insane.

I fell to my knees in front of the house, and tears erupted from my eyes. I buried my face in my hands. I couldn't take it any more!

I felt Alice by my side instantly. Someone else cold was there too, holding me up. But I couldn't speak.

My sanity was broken. My heart was dying all over again.

The fault lines of my heart shook with so much power, I wondered if Satan himself was pulling on them just to make me fall.

I thought one thought before my mind stopped.

_I love you, Jacob Black._

A piece of my heart broke off.

And then I passed out.

* * *

**AHH!!!! MY FAVORITE CHAPTER!!! So far... lol**

**~FinalLifeline~  
**


	9. Hysteria

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any thing used in this fanfiction! All rights belong to Stephenie Meyer!**

**(Except for any characters that do not appear in her stories, of course)  
**

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~Vindicated (Dashboard Confessional)~-~

~-~Blackout (Muse~-~

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

9. HYSTERIA

* * *

~-~FROM JACOB BLACK'S POINT OF VIEW~-~

_OH MY GOD..._

_That is just...wrong..._

_Now, wait a second!_

_So he just-_

_…_

The other wolves were almost berserk.

I didn't know what to think.

My mind went entirely blank.

Thinking was absolutely out of the question.

Seth....imprinted....on....

_Is that even possible?_

_Can't be!_

_I thought you said that imprinting was for creating more of our species!_

The minds of my pack were not able to comprehend it. Neither was I. Absolutely nothing could make sense...

I didn't stop their arguing and confusion. I didn't even remember phasing back. Getting dressed again, walking back to the house with a black expression... didn't even remember doing that.

But when I saw Seth on the ground... Somehow I was right beside him, and so was Alice... A tiny part of me registered picking him up and carrying him into the house. For some reason, it was hard for me to let Alice take him and set him on the love seat. Another part of me took in the shocked face of Edward when I entered the house.

Seth looked terrible... that much I could think through. His shaggy black hair was messy and he looked pale. He wasn't near as pale as the Cullens, but the dark circles under his eyes...

I felt guilty all of the sudden... I was the reason... the reason he looked so terrible, the reason he was different... I was the reason... and the one to blame.

I didn't remember going to sit by his unconscious body, but I was there somehow. I didn't comprehend that somehow my hand was on his shoulder... or that my heart was beating differently...

Not even Renesmee, the reason for my existence, coming to sit on her knees behind the love seat could make me think straight... Her soft, warm hand reaching for my cheek.

And the memory.

The look of my face when I ran back through the forest... My face when I saw Seth laying on the ground.... I looked just as bad as Seth did.... Renesmee's memory had captured Carlisle's short diagnosis of Seth...

Phasing to wolf form and then to human form so quickly... Seth had hit a tree.... it had broken Seth's arm... and his collarbone.... and a few ribs....

Then she played another distant memory... Bella was there, angry, furious... I was in human form, with Seth and Leah flanking my sides... my hands were in front of me... I was defending her. Before when she played this memory, her memory eyes had never left me... This time, they never left Seth.

She played the last memory... she and I were sitting at the piano...... her memory eyes left us again though... somehow, they found their way to Seth...

I had never realized he was there... I had been too caught up in Renesmee's music... And he was suddenly blank... his face was suddenly clouded. She had looked away from him. Or she couldn't remember any more...

No.

That wasn't it.

The whole memory faded... it looked like someone was streaking water against it...

It was Renesmee's tears.

I looked at her with horror breaking my daze. Renesmee knew everything.

Then she was gone. Her tear-streaked face vanished. My eyes locked back onto Seth.

Tears were on his face too. They were there... just as dominant as Renesmee's tears... Tears for me.

My own vision clouded... my heart skipped a beat... A feeling of deja vu swept through me...

An oddly familiar heat flooded through me...

The same glowing I knew from before, since the day when Bella gave birth...

The lines I had tied to my life were cut again, like before.

Everything drifted away from me... even the bronze haired girl I knew so well... My heart skipped another beat... Everything that made me who I was now disconnected from me in that strange moment, such a similar moment to that which I had always held so dear.

The entire universe suddenly changed its course. Renesmee no longer held me to this life.... The gravity of the earth relinquished its hold on me a second time.

All my confusion for this situation evaporated. I didn't realize that I was surrounded by the vampires, Renesmee included.

I could only grasp that my hand was no longer on his shoulder, but on the back of his head, and my thumb was stroking his tear-smeared cheek.

The pull that was being exerted from him was so much stronger than the pull Renesmee had before.

It was the shaggy haired boy on the couch that held me to my sanity.

No, I had lost my sanity too.

I had given it away. To him...

To Seth Clearwater.

* * *

FROM SETH CLEARWATER'S POINT OF VIEW

Life had no more meaning.

The reason for my existence the last two months had been to keep Jacob from learning. But he learned. And it was my fault.

Life held nothing more for me.

He would choose Renesmee. There wouldn't even be a place for me on the ballot. I would never be able to wake up, would I?

I didn't want to wake up.

I processed suddenly that I was thinking.

I wasn't dreaming. My thinking was oddly clear. Like a great load had been lifted off of my shoulders.

Why? The weight of the load on my shoulders shouldn't have just evaporated. It _should_ have been multiplied a million times over.

Jacob would most likely hold this against me for the rest of my life.

If I decided to stay alive.

But I was awake, and that meant I was still alive.

I could tell that I was under a very thick blanket. And a soft pillow was under my head.

My eyes started to open, a knee-jerk reaction to realizing I was awake. I defied my eyes, trying to close them. But they wouldn't.

Like it would have made much of a difference if I had.

The house, or I supposed that was my location, was entirely pitch black, except for the moon's light streaming in through the window. There, sitting silently under the window, was Jacob Black. He looked asleep, and I could here him snoring quietly.

My heart stuttered. He was here. Did that mean he knew?

Alice was suddenly beside me. Her appearance startled me, although I was used to the vampire's quick movement.

"Good morning," she whispered.

"Wha...what time is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. They were wet. I had been crying in my sleep? _That sucks, _I thought.

"8:00 P.M.," she announced quietly.

"Then..." I was interrupted by my own yawn. "Why did you say good morning?"

"I guess it just feels like morning to me," she replied sheepishly. "We've all been watching you for hours. You really shouldn't phase back and forth so fast, silly, 'cause you hit a tree and you broke your arm, your collarbone, and a few ribs."

"Really?" I asked, confused. I moved a bit to make sure I was alright. Nothing was hurting. But that was the reason it hurt so bad after I phased. But not the whole reason.

The other reason was sitting under the window, snoring lightly.

"Does... Jacob know?" I asked. For some reason, it didn't hurt as much to say that.

Alice's tiny face grew sad in the moonlight.

She nodded her head slowly, and then looked down. She looked almost ashamed. She hadn't wanted to be the one to tell me.

Then she looked up, suddenly, to behind me.

I looked too, turning my head.

I realized that there were a lot of people, well, vampires, scattered around the house. Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, Tanya, Garrett, and Kate were all sitting in the other, larger part of the living room. They looked like they were playing a game of cards. I could hear Bella and Edward muttering quietly in the kitchen. Carlisle, Esme, and the Amazonians, except Nahuel, were barely visible outside, by the pool.

Renesmee was there, in the kitchen doorway. Her face was not sad, as I expected it to be. She was looking at me. She was _smiling_. It was a small smile, tiny, but it was a smile. I could tell by the way she looked at me, and then glancing to the person sitting under the window, that she knew everything she could.

I smiled back, feeling terrible. I hoped she didn't think I would try to steal Jacob from her. No way. Alice was looking at me funny, almost like she felt a little contempt about it too.

"Nessie's not happy with me, is she?" I said, looking down.

"It's not that," Alice replied. That wasn't a very straight answer. "She... well... Jacob and she... they never planned to be serious, like dating for real, but she really did love him."

"Did?" I was confused again.

"Seth... this might make more sense if we had read through that book we bought."

Oh, I had forgotten about the book. The impending catastrophe because of the Volturi had stolen all my concentration.

The book was in Alice's hands so fast that I didn't realize that she had ran all the way to her car to get it, in half a second.

Alice began reading aloud, quietly.

"_The imprintation of the Quileute wolf-men has been a mystery for as long as the wolf-men have existed. Imprinting takes place when a wolf-man sets eyes on his soulmate. There has been no study on this, as there are rarely more than two or three of the wolf-men existing at a time._

_"There have been many strange cases of imprintation that are different enough to be recorded here. One of these strange events is the case of the wolf-woman. Sometimes, it seems that the wolf gene transfers somehow from the father to the daughter. The wolf-woman will imprint on a man, and in both of these cases, it has been on another wolf-man._

_"Another strange case is called deprinting. There has only been one known case of this. At some point, the wolf-man imprinted. But for some reason, he may imprint again, on another person. This person will be their entire soulmate, as the first imprint may have been incomplete. Another very unusual event like this is when a wolf-man could know a person for a long time, but then imprint on them later, instead of at first sight._

_"The strangest event regarding imprinting is the case of the same-gender imprinting. There is only one case of this. As the legend goes, a married wolf-man (not having imprinted on his wife) found his soulmate. This broke his wife's heart and she left. The reason she left is because her husband had found his other half in another man. There is no explanation for this, but there has been two cases where this has occurred._

_"The occurrence of same-sex imprinting puts to bed another theory that..._

"Blah, blah, blah," Alice finished, closing the book and setting it on the coffee table.

My eyebrows pushed together. This didn't seem to give us any new information about same-sex imprinting.

"That didn't help much," I muttered, and frowned. Alice looked at me like I had just said that the sky was pink.

"Seth?" she said, waving the book in front of my face. "Deprinting."

"What about it?" I said, turning my head a little to the side.

She waited for it to click into place. I looked to Jacob. And then remembered Renesmee.

"Oh," I said.

That's all I could say.

Alice grimaced. This was exactly the reaction she had expected. My face was blank. My mouth was open, and my features were entirely smoothed out.

Jacob.

Deprinted.

On.

Nessie.

And.

Imprinted.

On.

…

Me?

"He watched you sleep for five hours, not saying anything," Alice continued quietly. "I'm glad he's getting to sleep.

I shook my head. I couldn't believe it.

Two nights ago, I had been at Jacob's house. I had first seen the little vampire girl. I had dreamed about Jacob again. Yesterday ago, me and Jake had gone cliff-diving, and then came here for dinner... Last night, I had tried to numb myself...

This morning, I had almost exploded in the kitchen... I remembered faintly my trip to the store, and coming home. The note from Alice, the short-lived trip to Port Angeles, the declaration of our impending demise... returning to the Cullen's to tell the other wolves about everything. And then screwing up everything I had worked so hard to keep intact. Breaking my bones, that was fun... And that had somehow all happened today...

But now, I was sitting on the couch in the Cullen's house. I could already feel the change in myself. I was suddenly lighthearted. That feeling was slightly dumbed down by the thought of Renesmee.

She must be broken. But her smile had seemed so real... I couldn't take it as a go-ahead. I would have to talk to her somehow.

I looked back over to Jacob.

He... imprinted on...

"Oh my God..." I whispered, shaking my head violently.

"It's okay, Seth," Alice whispered, and she was suddenly behind the love seat, her cold marble arms wrapped around my neck. "Hun... she's not mad."

I looked up at her. I would never believe that Renesmee could be happy with this.

"She, well..." she stopped, short for words. "She... was definitely unhappy at first. She cried. But she had someone there to comfort her."

She paused, and looked back to the kitchen. I looked too.

Renesmee was there again. She had her arms crossed subtly across her stomach. She hardly looked like a ten year old anymore. She looked closer to thirteen.

Behind her, was a familiar young man. His skin was dark brown. His long, braided, black hair was to his shoulders.

Nahuel was standing beside Nessie. He smiled at me. I smiled back. Renesmee smiled as well, a little bit brighter than before.

Renesmee was happy. With Nahuel.

"Thank God," I whispered, my spirit lifting.

I knew that Jake and Nessie had never planned to take their relationship to that level, but now Jacob had, well, deprinted on her... and imprinted on me.

I looked away from them and back to Alice.

Alice smiled at me. I smiled back.

And I had so much to smile about.

The boy I love loved me back now! That love was unplanned, and unprecedented, but it was there, as bright as the sun! Renesmee was happy, and there would be no contempt between any of us. There was a bit of a downside: the pack's reaction. _Oh, well!_ I thought. They can deal with it! And my mom... she would be fine with it, as long as I was happy!

The one I loved stirred under the window.

I watched his eyes open.

His eyes were suddenly alert when he saw mine.

Something occurred between us there, in that moment, in only the light of the moon...

We were meant to be.

* * *

~3 FinalLifeline~


	10. Luv

**DISCLAI****MER: I do NOT own many of the elements used in this fanfiction! Most of them belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer! The only things that belong to me are the main plot line, and any new characters/locations.**

* * *

~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~

~-~Luv by Travis~-~

~-~Yes Please by Muse~-~

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

10. LUV

His eyes didn't leave me. My eyes were practically glued to his. I could the feel the intensity burning off of his eyes, smoldering into me. Melting me.

His dark form moved slightly as he prepared to stand. I tried to breathe.

Alice was gone before he had time to move. I turned in my seat, sitting up and getting the stupid blanket off of me. I turned back to him, and his eyes were exactly like melted onyx.

He slowly stood up. A smile was making its way across his face as he took three steps towards me. Those three steps got him to the couch before I had time to react.

Then Jacob, my Jacob, was beside me, on his knees, his dark brown eyes burning holes in my head.

And his hand was on my face. His skin was warmer than it had ever been. His eyes were bright with something I had never seen. His face looked so much younger... like it had when he was much younger. Exactly like it had before.

His lips were open in a kind of wonder, like he was staring into the eyes of God, and the edges were turned up into a bit of a smile. Jacob's long black hair was tied back into a ponytail. I reached up, my hand shaking, to touch his flawless face. The warmth was tremendous.

His hand moved from my cheek to the back of my head. I realized that I couldn't breathe.

His smile grew until his perfect, white teeth were glowing.

"Seth..." he whispered. It was the first thing he had said to me since he had found out.

I tried to breathe again, my breath shaking.

"Jacob," I whispered, trembling.

This moment could have lasted forever. It _should_ have lasted forever. Jacob's hand moved again, to my neck now. The warming sensation from his hand was enough to stop my breathing again. His eyes were so different now. I could feel that his whole life had shifted entirely today. His entire being had shifted.

"Can we take a walk?" he asked quietly, practically mouthing the words.

The muscles of my face stretched into a wider smile. Then I bit my lip, blushed deep red, and nodded.

My angel took my hand in his. His warm, russet skin was amazingly warm. And I held his hand back. I had been waiting so long for this.

I felt like a child seeing the moon for the very first time. I was suddenly the younger, happier Seth I used to be. He was mine. And every single part of me, my soul, was his.

He stood up, pulling me gently with him. He was about a foot and a few inches taller than me. The distance between our faces didn't change the way his eyes melted into mine. Hand in hand, we walked through the living room, past the Cullens and the others, out the back door, and around the pool. My Jacob pulled me towards the forest.

He intertwined our fingers when we got to the edge of the forest, and began walking slowly. We stepped in unison. Our heartbeats were synchronized now, and both of our hearts were raging with absolute burning love. I doubted that we would ever let go of each other's hands.

It was still nighttime, but we kept walking anyway. Darkness didn't stand in our way. Nothing could.

Jacob and I walked until we were to the river. The water rushed slowly past us in the middle of the forest. Jacob sat down on the ground and crossed his legs. He never let go of my hand. I followed suit, sitting directly across from him so that I could stare at him.

He spoke, his voice soft and real.

"Well," he began, his eyes still bearing down into mine. He paused and bit his lip, looking at me with admiration. The older boy laughed.

I smiled and bit my lip too. I didn't want to screw anything up.

His finger was running all across my hand, like he was drawing something. He was still biting his lip, like he was at a loss for words.

I was definitely speechless. Jacob loved me. I had no idea what I _could_ say.

He reached towards me. His warm, soft hand ran across my thick black hair down to my cheek again, and he sighed, his lips parted again in some kind of wonder.

I reached for the big, soft hand on my cheek and held it there. His smile grew wider yet. He tried again to speak.

"Everything's gonna be a whole lot different now," he said, still quiet. He was just as nervous as I was. "Isn't it?"

I sighed, half-smiling when I answered.

"I think so," I replied. Then I went on, whispering. "I didn't plan this, Jake, any of it."

His eyes met mine, and they looked so earnest.

"Neither did I," he said, tracing on my hand again. "Turning gay wasn't exactly on my to-do list today."

He laughed a bit, sheepishly. I smiled and laughed quietly.

Then I sighed heavily.

"Poor Renesmee," I said. Even though I knew she was happy now, I couldn't help but feel terrible.

"She's okay," he said, biting his lip a little. "She has Nahuel now."

He paused, and placed my hand on his chest. There, under the heated, hard muscle I could feel his heartbeat, in sync with mine.

"And you have me," he said, his voice thick with truth.

I let that sink in for a second. But something else smacked my brain sideways before I could think.

"Oh crap," I said, closing my eyes.

"What?" he said, getting to his knees in front of me. "Are you hurting? Is one of your ribs-"

"No, no, Jake, I'm fine."

He got back to his seating position, looking at me worriedly.

"School." I said, finally, opening my eyes. "School's tomorrow."

His face turned blank. He looked away from me before quickly replying.

"Oh... I don't care. We don't have to go-"

"Jake, you're a senior, they're bound to give you something important-"

He stopped be, placing his too-soft hand on my cheek again.

"I'll be just fine."

I tried to breathe again, but he was making it a little difficult.

Then he knocked the wind out of me.

"Seth... I love you, and I don't care who knows."

My face went blank, but then I smiled.

"I've loved you since the day of your birthday party. I've loved you so much. And if anyone thinks I care if they know, or care what they think, then they can go to-"

His lips were on mine then.

My mind went cloudy. Both of our eyes closed, and my arms were around his neck. His warm, big hand was on the back of my head, holding me too him as if he thought I could disappear any second. I didn't breathe, I couldn't. His lips opened mine so softly I might not have noticed if his warm, sweet breath hadn't been suddenly inside me. I held him there tighter, kissing him with everything I could. There was no reason to hold back. For all I knew, he could disappear.

Then I practically tackled him. My body reacted quickly, and I slowly released my lips' hold on his. His eyes were surprised, but they were happy, light, and very, very warm.

I rolled off of him, breathing again.

"I'm sorry," I gasped, trying to force my abused lungs to work again.

"Don't be," he said, holding me to his big, muscled chest. "I wish you hadn't stopped."

For the first time, I wrapped my arms around him.

"Is this going to be hard?" I asked. When he looked confused, I clarified. "Being...together and all?"

He was silent for a few seconds, and blinked.

"Probably," Jacob said. I could hear the worry in his tone.

"And the pack... what do they think?" I knew the answer before I asked.

"They... well, Leah thought it was funny," he replied, scoffing at Leah's name. "The younger ones are pretty confused. Jared was kinda stunned. Sam already knew. Quil and Embry don't really mind."

I sighed and held him closer. The temperature was cold, but the heat of our skin kept us warm. We could lay like this in a blizzard and I wouldn't care.

"School's gonna suck," he said huskily.

"I know," I sighed. "But I'll be happy tomorrow if I get to keep you with me."

"We don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to, Seth," he said, stroking my chin bone softly.

I pondered this for a second, biting my lip again. I didn't really want to, but what if Jacob misses something important? But... if Jake and I held hands (or something like that) in public... I flinched imagining the taunting. Or maybe they wouldn't. Maybe Jacob's mere size would be enough to keep them away.

"No one will make fun of us, you know," I said, smiling slyly.

"And why's that?" he said, eyebrows furrowing.

"They'd be too afraid you'd squish them with one hand," I clarified, taking hold of his hand.

He held my hand tighter than I could hold his.

"I'm not afraid of being bullied," he said, chuckling at the idea of it. "I just thought you might want to be with me longer."

He sat us both up, and he leaned back against a tree.

"I know I want to be with you longer," he continued dreamily.

The way he said it made me want to kiss him in a surprise attack, but I didn't, I just smiled and blushed deep red.

"How did you do it?" he asked. It sounded almost mysterious.

I tilted my head to the side.

"How did I do what?" I countered.

"Keep it a secret from me, from everyone, for so long?"

"Well, it wasn't easy... I had to practically break my eardrums every night."

He blinked and raised his eyebrows.

"Uh... what does that mean?"

"My mp3 player. Every night I sat in my room, and listened to music. I made sure that I listened to it so loud and so much that when I phased, I would have the song stuck in my head, instead of..." I stopped before continuing. "Instead of you..."

This time, he blushed. I had only seen him blush once or twice. This was so deep red that I could see it underneath his deep russet-colored skin.

The sudden pooling of blood made me smirk and bite my lip.

"I slipped up a few times though. You're-" I stopped. I had almost said _You're just too hot not to think about._ "You're just too amazing for me to keep out of my mind."

He blushed again. I was fighting the urge again to kiss him insanely. Jake turned his head towards the river, watching the dark water rush by us.

"It was hard at first. Well, really it never got any better," I explained. "That week after your birthday was the worst. I really was sick for a while, but I didn't have a book report to do. I made that up. I was trying to stay away from you. It hurt. It felt like a million knives was being plunged into my heart. Like I was dying. I guess the old stories weren't lying when they said it was painful for you to be away from your soulmate."

He frowned.

"It would've been too hard for you to talk to me like nothing had happened, right?" Jake asked, looking at me.

"Yeah," I sighed.

He slumped his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Seth," he said, grieved. "If I had known..."

He stopped. He knew exactly what would have happened.

"If I had known... I wouldn't have understood."

He closed his eyes and put his hands on his face.

"I would've been a total jerk," Jacob groaned.

"No! You would've thought about it, realized how I felt..." I said. "And then you would have been a jerk."

I hugged him tighter as he leaned back against the tree, laughing. I laughed with him.

I wanted to kiss him again, wanted to so badly that I wondered if this is what thirst was like for a vampire.

My body acted on its own. I leaned up slowly and cautiously. I brushed my lips softly against his. He closed his eyes. Then my lips locked softly with his lips. This kiss was better than the first. His lips moved slowly on mine. I closed my eyes as well as he wrapped his arms around my neck.

This was something I had secretly longed for ever since the day of the birthday party. I wanted this more than anything.

Him.

My lips parted his. His warm breath filled my being again, saturated my soul.

Then Jacob stopped, and pulled away. My eyes clicked open. His face was turned away from me. His eyes were afraid, and wary.

He hopped to his feet, sudden tremors racking his being.

Then I smelled it.

The Volturi.

Violent vibration shook through my back and I jumped to my feet. Jacob phased suddenly.

His clothes blew around me in tiny shreds before the russet wolf I knew so well exploded from his being.

The vampires were there before I could phase.

The white-haired Caius was standing on a tree limb, his grin malevolent. Beneath him were two that I didn't recognize. Two of Aro's new pets.

And I couldn't phase.

"Strange feeling, isn't it?" Caius said. His voice was rough, like I remembered it, and evil. "You can thank my newest friend, Hallie, for that."

He gestured to the blonde vampire under him.

I turned to Jacob, and grabbed onto him, for no reason other than to be near him.

But he was cold. Ice cold.

I jerked back and gasped.

"Oh, and that would be Gregory's doing, I'm afraid," he said, feigning apologetics. Then Caius laughed before bounding lightly to the ground between the two other vampires.

I was helpless. My eyes were wide with terror at the vampires that stood twelve feet in front of me. My lungs had stopped working, and I knew I was alone. Jacob. He was frozen solid, his wolf face stuck in a mask of terror and hatred.

"This should be fun," Caius continued, his voice truthful. It would be fun: for him. "And I promise, you won't feel a thing." His voice was full of falsities. "Of course, we better hope your other wolf friends don't show up. That wouldn't be any fun at all. Or any of those damn Cullens. But I really would like to see them stop me from ripping you to pieces, wolf boy."

Just as Caius began to step towards me, he and his "friends" jerked their heads sharply aside-

-right before Quil's chocolate brown wolf form suddenly tore Gregory's head from his shoulders.

Quil, Iliana, and Jared were there then, ripping Gregory to pieces. Caius and Halle leapt suddenly high into the trees.

At the same moment that Jacob came back to life, a pale, dark-headed boy, about sixteen by the looks of him, appeared from the bushes. Fire exploded from his hands.

"Benjamin!" I yelled. It made me feel weird that I was the only vulnerable person here.

And then the remains of Gregory set aflame, purple smoke erupting from the ashes forming around his broken body.

"_Damn!_"Caius screamed from high above us, and it still sounded like music.

The other wolves moved away from the fire, and started to jump up at Caius and Hallie, who were far to high up to reach, and there weren't any branches to climb to get to them.

Then, I suddenly phased. I ripped apart into a sandy-colored wolf, and instantly heard the thoughts of the others.

_Yes! One down! _Quil was exuberant.

_Yeah, a million to go. _Iliana was furious.

_Hurry! Get them! _Jared yelled.

The two vampires had ran off through the trees. They were slower there than on the ground, and broke many limbs as they jumped.

Toward the Cullen's house.

_Hurry! _Jacob was using his Alpha tone, but thoughts of me were lingering at the edge of his mind. _We can't let them beat us back!!! Go! Now!!!_

And we all ran suddenly, and Benjamin was right behind us. How Benjamin got here, I had no idea, but we had to save the others first.

The house appeared within seconds. We had beat Caius and Hallie, but barely. We all turned to face them, right in front of the pool. They were standing in the trees about 30 feet up and 40 feet away.

And then they were gone.

_Gone to get more, I bet_, Sam barked, suddenly appearing from the trees with the rest of the pack.

_Let's hope their just scared_, Paul and Michael thought nearly in unison.

The Cullens and the other vampires were with us soon, looking deep into the forest.

"Caius is going to wait a little longer, I think," Edward said, his tone venomous. He must have wanted to end it today. "You all need to phase back now. We need to start making plans."

***

We all phased back, including Jake and I, who needed new clothes since we phased without taking them off. Leah made a rude comment on the fact that we needed clothes, and I all but ripped her freaking throat out.

When we were all phased, we went inside the house. Plans were desperately needed now.

I saw now how many we had. The Egyptian vampires, excluding Amun and Kebi, of course, were here now, along with Peter and Charlotte. The four additions to our band of freedom fighters greeted the pack warmly, especially Benjamin and Charlotte, who both liked us very well.

When we got in, Carlisle and Emmett were silently making us food. It was still late though. Jacob and I had only been in the forest for almost an hour. Although it had seemed like hours.

We all scattered around the huge living room and dining area, those who would eat blending in with those who didn't feel the need to.

Jacob and I sat together in silence, throwing smiles at each other every two seconds. We were sitting beside Tia Benjamin, who I had become good friends of last time he was here. Renesmee and Nahuel were sitting not far away with us, but they soon moved closer, making conversation with us as if nothing had passed between us. Renesmee obviously felt no hard feelings, and she seemed just as happy as she had ever been. She and Nahuel were a bit of an odd couple, but it was sweet seeing them together.

Michael, Gary, Ricky, Warren, Steven, Iliana, and Chris, the seven younger wolves, each one of them younger than twelve, were sitting in the corner. They were very silent and very afraid. Kate, Garrett, and Tanya were sitting with them, trying to keep them happy. I noticed that Garrett's eyes were no longer red like they were before, but the same butterscotch as the two vampire's he sat beside.

"I think we have a shot of winning this," Nahuel was saying. He showed no signs of doubt, but I supposed that after living one-hundred-and-fifty years, you would be good at masking your emotions.

"You better be right," Rosalie and Emmett said in unison. Rosalie sat rigidly on the couch, but Emmett was calm beside her, casually flicking through the channels on the TV.

"If the rest of them have powers like that Gregory guy, or that other one, Hallie," Alice said, still tense from being so blinded here. "Then I don't know about that."

"Don't say that, Alice!" Renesmee said, her voice dripping with hope. "We have a chance!"

"A slim chance," Leah muttered from under her breath.

"So?" Renesmee continued. "A chance is a chance! And I think we will win!"

Her hopefulness was becoming contagious. I could almost feel every heart in the room lighten, at least a little bit.

I wondered how the room felt to Jasper.

Jacob reached over subtly and took hold of my hand in his hand.

I smiled at him again.

"You're right, Ness," I said. "There really is hope."

Jacob squeezed my hand lightly and smiled.

Everyone was quieter for a little while, but the rooms were still filled with activity. Before long, Zafrina of the Amazonians was sitting with us, chatting with Nessie. Carlisle and Esme were talking to Bella, Alice, Edward, and Jasper, probably beginning to make plans before they had a mass meeting with all of us.

Jacob and I talked while we had a few moments to us.

"You really do think we have a prayer, don't you?" Jacob said, his hand on my knee.

"Absolutely," I replied, nodding my head in a matter-of-fact way. "It's a far shot, but I know its there, like Nessie said."

I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder.

He leaned his head on mine.

"You are freaking amazing, Seth, you know that?" he said. I laughed a little. "I never noticed anything about you for real before. And I know why you were so different after my party. Is that going to change?"

"Is what going to change?" I asked.

"Are you going to be the Seth I used to know?" he asked, turning to look at me.

I paused and smiled before answering.

"Exactly like him," I said. "But one thing is going to be different."

His eyebrows pushed together. "And what's that?"

"I get to keep you," I laughed.

I didn't even notice we were leaning toward each other until we were an inch away.

Then the front doors of the house flew open. Jacob's head, and mine, shot toward the door. Every person stood up in the room, suddenly ready to massacre our visitor. Gasps shot through every body in the room. I knew the smell instantly.

Everyone, vampire, werewolf, or vampire-hybrid, stared at our visitor.

He had windswept, rain-soaked raven hair, that was cropped short. His eyes were clouded red and frenzied. The visitor showed no sign of ill-will.

His name was whispered from many lips across the rooms.

"I bring grave news from the Seattle coven," the man said. I knew the voice.

Marcus of the Volturi.

* * *

OMG THE BEST CHAPTER EVER!!!!!!

~FINALLIFELINE~


	11. House of Wolves

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything used in this fan fiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

* * *

Sooooo sorry for the delay! :/ I did a lot of plot work for this chapter, so that the next chapters will fit together perfectly! :D

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~House of Wolves by My Chemical Romance~-~

(Yes, I stole that name for the chapter name! It's a reference to the werewolves/shape-shifters/whatever you wanna call them!)

* * *

~-~Wakened Autumn~-~

-Seth's Story-

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11. HOUSE OF WOLVES

Low growl's sounded in the mostly silent chamber. Our unexpected guest's face was frightened, much different than I remembered.

Marcus's face, so bored, so uninterested the last time I saw him was alarmingly alert. His eyes were cloudy red, yet they were tinted with black rings around the edges.

"Marcus," Carlisle spoke, his voice somehow soft amid the tense atmosphere.

"Carlisle, my friend," replied Marcus, his eyes apologetic. "There is so much for me to explain, and so much more for me to answer for." He bowed his head, looking saddened.

"How much time do we have?" Carlisle asked, both to he and to Alice at the same time.

Alice's eyes clouded over. Perhaps Aro or Caius or both weren't figuring the wolves in this time. Alice looked slightly troubled. But then her eyes brightened in speculation.

"They aren't factoring the wolves in their newest plan! I can see!" she declared, the music returning to her voice. "Aro wants to hold it out as long as possible, but Caius wants to just attack us now. Aro won't allow it. He had one of his newborns, Kereana, use her gift to unable the rest of the newborns to move or think. Caius can't disobey Aro now. Not yet, anyway. We may have a while!"

Her smile was wide. I could almost hear the cogs in her head conjuring up plans.

Marcus nodded, his guilty frown still prominent on his face.

"I have left my brothers behind," he explained. "I have stayed silent for far too long. Aro knew that I would someday leave. Caius is glad I'm gone, but Aro might want me back in the family. But I have come to join you, my friend, Carlisle, to help you in every way humanly possible."

Jacob laughed slightly at my side. Marcus's use of the word "humanly" was more than ironic. I held him tightly to me.

Marcus's glance shifted to Jacob and I for half of a moment before he looked back at Carlisle. For that second, I thought he was perturbed by Jacob's laughing. But a slight smile from Edward told me different. He was a tad alarmed by mine and Jacob's closeness. I had forgotten about Marcus's ability to detect relationships.

But he didn't seem to give it another thought. I doubted we were the first ever gay couple he had met in his 3,000-and-something-or-other years.

"First, you must explain this grave news you have mentioned," Zafrina said, her eyes still wild with disbelief.

Marcus bowed his head and frowned again.

"One of the young ones, one of the Seattle coven," he began. My stomach flipped over on his side. What could have happened? "One of them, the youngest, Josh, has been abducted by my brothers."

Low gasps and growls filled the room, some of them coming from the young wolves in the corner. I gasped as well. This was one of the two that Alice had told me little about.

"They plan to kill him as an example."

"No," Jasper muttered, putting his face in his hands.

"Aro is going to murder him?!" Bella was enraged. "He's justa_ child!_"

"In all fairness, love," Edward said at her side. "He is older than you by a year, if you add up his physical age and the-"

"So _what?!_" Rosalie shouted. She was as against innocent death nearly as much as Bella. "He's still a child! It is in no way right to let this happen!"

"What is there that we can do, Rosalie?" Jasper yelled.

"You already know what!" she shouted back.

"We have to save him!" Bella screamed. "Somehow, right now!"

"I agree entirely!" Emmett said boisterously at the same time Esme said, "Yes."

"So do I!" said Sam.

"Not saving him would be just as bad as sending one of the younger wolves to die!" Jacob yelled from my side. I flinched, and in one second, both of his arms were around me.

"There doesn't appear to be any other choice!" Sam yelled.

"What if it's a set-up?" Jasper countered, turning towards Marcus. Alice was at his side instantly. "How do we know _you're _not setting this up for our destruction?" But he already knew that answer.

"He's not," Edward said, putting a hand on Jasper's tense shoulder. "He's here to do what he said, nothing else. Marcus is here to help."

"But what if Aro is making this a trap anyway?" Alice said.

"You would've seen it, I presume," Marcus replied. I assumed he knew nearly as much as Aro did.

This seemed to satisfy both Alice and Jasper, who backed away in thought.

It had quieted down now, a little bit.

"We have to do something, now, this very hour if we can," Bella was saying, taking control. "I won't let the boy die this way, or any other way."

Bella's motherly instincts were taking over. And she was absolutely determined.

"Marcus," Edward said. His tone was different. "I must warn you, out of precaution, that your thoughts are being closely monitored."

Marcus nodded, his facial expression still the same as it was before.

I shuddered at Jacob's side. The notion of what would happen if Edward were to detect one accidental mutinous thought in Marcus's head was as horrifying as anything.

"Marcus, we have to know where Aro and Caius are," Bella said, her voice battle-ready.

"If they're still in the area, that will make it easier," Jasper speculated.

"No," Marcus said, his voice again solemn. "They were planning to stay, but now that I have left them, it is possible that they are leaving for Volterra."

I felt unease ripple through our small army. Even thinking about attacking Volterra was impossibly painful. The Volturi's city, the safest city in the world, was the last place we would ever try.

"But there is one other place they may be heading," said Carlisle, grinning.

"Ah," Edward breathed, also smiling. "I didn't think of that."

My beloved's brow furrowed as we watched the display of plans and revelations. Carlisle turned towards our group and explained.

"There is a small island off the coast of Florida that the Volturi hold as a secondary fortress, in case Volterra where to be taken," Carlisle said. Bella scoffed at the idea of the Volturi's impenetrable city being taken down. "Aro named it Isla Didyme, after his sister."

He didn't mention the fact that Didyme was also Marcus's mate, and that Aro had murdered her. Marcus blinked at this and his lips twitched a little.

"It is more of a stronghold than Volterra, but it doesn't have the exact same security measures that Volterra holds for them," Carlisle continued. "I would know, because I helped design it."

I nodded in slight admiration. How many jobs could Carlisle do?

"It is nearly impossible to find, because one of the Volturi Guard that is posted there has the ability to manipulate vision, similar to Zafrina. The illusion he creates is what renders the island undetectable except by the Volturi, and myself."

Alice jumped a little.

"If that's their plan, then we will need to be fast! Florida is much quicker to access for them than Italy, because of the distance from here."

"Alice is right," Tanya said, flipping her hair out of her eyes.

I thought for a few moments as the plans and everything like that continued. Only tiny parts of their ongoing debates stuck in my mind. Did they all have to be so morbid?

_Death... burn... destruction... blood..._

I nestled against Jacob's shoulder, and frowned.

Everyone in this room knew what was coming.. A war really was coming, and fast.

War. The word hit me like a torpedo. My stomach heaved, and I could feel the room grow colder. If Jacob hadn't been holding me, I would've most likely fallen apart. War....

I remembered so vividly last December, a memory and a feeling that were subdued by Jacob's new presence in my life. The horrible low ache in the pit of my stomach was just as bad as it had been now.

War. War means fighting. War means battlefields. War means...

War means death.

I could feel sweat beginning to form on my forehead as all the air heaved from my lungs with a sharp sound. Jake's eyes were on me then. We were both standing, but I knew that my feet wouldn't be working right. I leaned against him and tried to breath again.

"Can we go outside?" I whispered. I knew it wouldn't be of any use, since every person in this room had super-natural hearing.

And then he was pulling me towards the back doors, out to the patio by the pool. The change in the atmosphere was helpful, but not as much as it should have been.

The feeling of imminent doom didn't help much either.

"Seth, man, are you okay?" He set me in a chair, and got down on his knees, holding me by the shoulders.

I tried again to breathe right.

"This is a war, Jacob," I said, my voice shaky. The pain in my voice was dominant over everything.

He nodded slowly, his face still worried.

"A war..." I swallowed dryly. "War means... death."

Deeper understanding filled his dark eyes. Jacob looked away for a few moments.

"We have no idea what's gonna happen, Jake," I said, my hand acting on its own to reach up and touch his face. "All this has happened so fast. Another Volturi threat, you deprinting on Nessie, and then we're suddenly together... getting attacked in the forest, all of this is just happening so fast."

His dark eyes met mine again.

"There's no telling what will happen now, Jacob," I said, my voice shaky again.

He reached up and held my hand to his face, and closed his eyes.

I couldn't bear to say what I meant to say.

_If something happens to you..._ No. Out of the question.

"Seth," he said, his voice slow, sure, and warm. "I know you're worried about me. Don't be. You just got me, and there won't be anything, not even some stupid vampire army that could rip us all to shreds- there won't be anything that can ever tear us apart."

I let that sink in. Then I smiled. I had never really said anything about something happening to him specifically, but he could see right through me.

His eyes opened, and he smiled too, his eyes full of life. I couldn't believe that the God that created such an amazing person could have even dreamed up the threat upon our lives, the Volturi.

"And I don't plan on letting anything happen to you either," he continued. His face changed. His smile shrunk a little and his eyes hardened. "Ever."

My smile shrunk with his, and my brow furrowed for the millionth time today.

"What time is it?" he asked suddenly.

"Um," I said, blinking. I glanced at my watch, which I had worn for the trip to Port Angeles that seemed so long ago, though it had only been hours. "3:00 in the morning."

He nodded and glanced back towards the house. We could see everyone, vampire, werewolf, and hybrid alike through the colossal glass window. Everyone was still turned towards Carlisle, Marcus, and the others, but there seemed to be a lot of talking going on.

I started to stand. "Maybe we should-"

"It's fine, they'll fill us in later," my russet-skinned angel said, pushing me back down gently with his soft hands.

A tap on the window made me jump.

I turned to see Embry standing at one of the clear glass doors, an awkward look on his face. He motioned for one of us to come to him.

"I'll go," I said, jumping up before he could object.

Embry opened the door slightly.

"Yeah?" I said, feeling a little awkward because Embry was.

"Um," he stuttered. "The pack wants to talk to you and Jacob."

I flushed deep red before replying.

"Uh, where, when?"

"By the pool. It's kinda urgent, so right now."

Embry bit his lip before motioning the rest of the pack forward. I hadn't noticed, but the entire pack had been watching our little conversation. I backed up to Jake, who had overheard. Jacob grimaced as the rest of the pack came outside.

Every one of them wore some kind of awkward or embarrassed face, except Leah, who looked extremely smug. The pack didn't sit, probably because Jacob and I were not. They all stood, scattered in a messy half-moon.

No one said anything for a long time, but when someone did speak, it was me.

"So did you guys come out here just to stare at your own feet, or did this have a reason?" I realized I was irritated. Maybe because I knew the pack was going to be difficult.

Jacob put his arm around me, to stop me from punching someone, probably.

Paul muttered something incoherent before turning to us, red in the face.

"So what now?" he fumed. "Are you two fairies suddenly a... a thing?!"

"Calm down, Paul, jeez," Warren, one of the preppier new wolves, said.

"Are you freaking joking?" Paul snapped, pointing his hand at us. "It's _gross!_"

"Shut up, homophobe!" Jared said, hitting him on the arm with the back of his hand. "They didn't do anything personal against you."

"Don't be stupid, Paul," Gary said, scowling.

I was surprised that some of them were actually defending us. Of course, Paul was making me kinda mad.

"You guys really want to have those two fruitcakes in your heads from now on?" he seethed, still red in the face.

"That is kinda weird," Iliana whispered. She looked just as awkward here as everyone else.

There was some more silence.

"I think if you two are happy, than we should be," Quil said.

"Me too," Embry said.

Warren, Gary, Michael, Jared, Brady, Ricky, and Steven nodded awkwardly.

Chris, Iliana, and Collin didn't say anything, or nod, but a few of them shifted uncomfortably. Leah just stared at Jacob and I, trying not to laugh. Bee-otch.

Paul rolled his eyes and shook his head, pursing his lips. I hated how Paul could be so opinionated.

"So really, what did you come out here for?" Jake barked, mostly to Paul.

"A confirmation," Sam said, smiling a still awkward smile. "Now that we've got it, I guess we can leave you... uh, alone again."

Then the wolf pack began to file back into the house. Paul shot us one last grossed out glance before he went inside. When they were all inside, Jacob sat down and let out a husky laugh.

"What?" I smiled. His laugh was so amazing, I found it impossible not to at least smile.

"That was fun," he said, smiling down at me. Well, actually, he didn't really have to look down that much anymore.

"Ya know, I pretty soon," I said, smiling smugly. "You're gonna have to look up at me."

He made a funny face.

"What da heck does that mean?" he said, jokingly.

"Look at me!" I laughed. "Just yesterday, you said I was getting taller!"

"Well, yeah," he said, sitting down. "But I never said you were going to be taller than me!"

I wasn't so sure about that. I remembered the last time I had been measured, I was 5'7". Now I was about 6 feet tall, maybe 6'1".

Like it made a difference. Jacob was still a freaking seven foot tall beast! Not to mention that he was muscled up the way no normal eighteen year old would be. I guess I was muscled up too, but not like he was. What the crap did Billy feed him? Growth hormones?

Jacob tousled my hair playfully as I sat down on the ground, crossing my legs, and rested my head against his knee.

"We're going to be going to that island now, aren't we?" I asked. The thrill of adventure hadn't really hit me yet. "That'll be fun. Hula dancing and all that good stuff."

My Jacob laughed raucously before he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

"I love you, Seth," he said.

I looked up at him and smiled brilliantly before I countered that.

"You have no idea!"

* * *

**Again, SO sorry for the wait!!! 3**

**~-~FinalLifeline~-~**


	12. New Dawn

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own ANYTHING used in this fanfiction! Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer, Summit Entertainment, and Little, Brown, & Co.**

* * *

~-~AUTHOR NOTE~-~

~!!!!!MEGA-IMPORTANT!!!!!~

Okay, this is gonna be a disappointing note for some of you. I know that a lot *cough*most of you :)*cough* of you are expecting there to be lemon of some kind in this fanfiction. I am sort of sorry to tell you that I do not plan to include any explicit content or anything like that. This is for one reason. This story would have to be over after *that* happened. I wouldn't know how to write after something so huge happened. I mean, I guess I could keep writing if you want the rest of the story to suck big time.

Sorry to those of you who are disappointed. Does the fact that this will be lemon-free mean that it'll suck? Maybe from someone else's eyes, but I think it will be great regardless of explicit content (well, lack thereof). This story will be fueled by a whole lot of action!!!

But here's the good news (that I didn't mention before)!

I plan to do a sequel, because the ending to this story will not at all be any kind of ultimatum. There will still be danger lurking, and if danger lurks, a sequel is born!

The sequel will take place over a longer period of time (remember that this one only takes place over the course of one weekend so far!)

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~Points of Authority by Linkin Park~

~Sleep by My Chemical Romance~

~I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie~

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

12. NEW DAWN

The feeling of worry only relinquished its ever-constricting hold on me when Jacob was next to me. My hand might as well have been glued to his for all it would have mattered. If I let go, or let him out of my sight, then the worry would descend once again upon my mind.

A kind of buzzing had filled the Cullen's home. Plans were being made, but changed so frequently that I gave up quickly on trying to keep up. Every time Jacob was called in to help, even though it might be only for a few seconds, I could feel the imminent horror prodding at my sanity. But when Jacob returned, the glowing in his dark eyes would sew me back up again, as if I had always been whole.

We usually kept to ourselves, for multiple reasons. First of all, our presence made some of the others feel awkward. Evidence of this was most present within our pack family. Secondly, the house was getting a little crowded, although it couldn't be compared to the last time, when the house had been absolutely flooded with vampires.

For the most part, Jacob and I usually sat by the pool, and a lot of the time, it seemed like we weren't saying anything. His eyes were constantly burning into mine. The look in his eyes shifted all the time, moving from confusion, to adoration, and even sadness.

I wondered why sadness constantly dripped into his eyes. Speculation arose in me that it might be the same reasons that the worry and horror constantly edged into my mind. But every time sadness was there, it would be only for half of a second, and then he would look back into my eyes, and the adoration and happiness would be there, as if sorrow had never been there.

Jacob made the Alpha-command that the pack was not allowed to leave the house, except when running scouting trips, and even then, not alone.

We only had time to make two short scouting runs, neither of which included me and my reason for being, before Edward and Emmett left on a relatively longer journey, to see if the Volturi were still in the area. Sam, Paul, and Leah went with them, for backup if needed. They were back within ten minutes to report that the Volturi had indeed left the area.

Then plans shifted again, this time including an immediate second trip, for the purpose of learning if Isla Didyme was the Volturi's destination.

The entire Amazonian coven, save for Nahuel, were set to go, along with the Denali clan, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper. We kept Alice with us, to keep watch on the ever-shifting future, and the entire pack stayed to protect the home front.

Within minutes, the second scout team left for Florida, hopping on a plane in Seattle. They would not call at all after they reached Florida, in case there was any chance that the Volturi could be listening in. I didn't know how they would find out if the Volturi were to be at Isla Didyme, but I didn't really care yet.

Jacob and I were too caught up in each other to think too much about the impending war that hung over our heads like clouds before a thunderstorm. I wondered when it was finally going to rain, just wanting it to be over with. The suspense that flooded my system when Jacob was not with me was so painful, it was almost physical pain. I wanted to know the outcome, just a part of it even.

Who would we have to lose to get through this war, so much deadlier than the first?

Then Jacob was back, and my train of thought was broken instantly when his dark brown eyes met mine. A smile erupted across his face, and I responded like he knew I would.

I leaned backwards, pretending to swoon.

I guess swooning isn't good to do by a pool. I flinched away from the water when I realized I was tilting backwards, and gasped. Jacob laughed and his eyebrows raised, making his smile even bigger.

"Hey, honey," he said, his voice so deep that it gave me goosebumps. He was definitely the manliest gay man I had ever met. Not that I had met many. The laughter rolled from his mouth again.

"Hey yourself," I half-whispered, blushing bright red when he sat next to me and took my left hand in his right. "What time is it?"

"Just before five. Should be dawn soon," he said as I put my head on his warm shoulder. "You know what?"

"Tell me what, and then I will," I teased, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. Jacob smelled way too good for it to be normal. "You smell good."

He laughed.

"I've been in there with the vamps for like fifteen minutes, and I smell _good_ to you?" He laughed again before messing my hair up again. "But thats not what I was going to say."

Jacob deliberated before he continued.

"Since the Volturi have left the area... maybe... maybe it's safe enough for all of us, the pack, I mean... to go visit our families..."

I couldn't help but smile. Mom would be worried sick, even though I'm sure the rest of the council had filled her in.

But my smile flipped upside down when I realized why he was letting the pack go home for a while.

Because we were about to leave on a terrible mission.

Because we were all ready to face the most horrifying of all our demons.

Because we might not all come home.

Sudden tremors brought me back to the present. It was a somehow familiar feeling. It was painful, excruciating. What the-

I clutched at my chest. Part of me was trying to tear in two. My heart was splintering again, this time on another new fault line, hidden in the back where I couldn't reach it to fix it.

"Seth?" Jacob said, holding me back from something, from falling into the pool.

"Jacob," I said, as evenly as a nearly traumatized person could. "What if one of the young ones... what if one of them..."

Jacob understood. He pulled me closer to him, into his lap, even though I was 6 feet tall and 172 pounds.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to them," he crooned. His voice so amazing, I couldn't help but be reassured.

We were silent for a few more seconds, and I stared into his white t-shirt, not blinking.

"Jeez, Seth, you way a ton," he teased.

"Then I'll get off," I mumbled into his chest.

I moved carefully around him, trying to breathe evenly.

Somehow, water had splashed up from the pool at some point, and my bare foot caught it at the wrong time.

I didn't have time to blink or react when the back of my head collided with Jacob's knee as I fell. Then it was all cold. I shivered as I sank into the huge Olympic-sized pool.

_Well, this is fun._ Even my thoughts were bitingly sarcastic. _Ha._

I decided to fight gravity, then, and kicked my feet as hard as I could, rocketing back to the top. Jacob was waiting for me. He was in hysterics when I climbed out of the pool, water dripping off of me relentlessly. I parted my lips and stuck my tongue to my back teeth, and crossed my arms, waiting for him to stop.

His eyes were closed and he was rolling on the patio's white marble stone. I was pretty sure that his eyes were tearing up from laughing so hard. Jacob's arms were clenched at his middle, and I wondered if his insides were hurting yet.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head to the side before I went to kneel on my knees by his side.

"Jacob," I said in the most even tone I could, trying not to laugh too. He opened his eyes, and started laughing even harder. Then I laughed too, before I kissed him in another one of my surprise attacks.

Then he stopped laughing. Jacob's arms wrapped around my head and his hands intertwined in my hair, holding me to him, and he was kissing me with everything he had.

I put my wet hands on his cheek and he flinched away, and his eyes shot open.

"Holy crap, you're really cold," he gasped. "You probably need to change clothes before you freeze. It's like forty degrees out here!"

"Jacob, I have no clothes here," I said, standing up. My jeans and t-shirt were soaked. The same nice clothes I had worn for Alice's little trip to Port Angeles. Great.

"That's fine," he said, jumping to his feet. "We can go by your house and get some more, can't we?"

"Sure," I said. "Mom will probably attack me when we get there though."

He laughed.

"Be right back," he said, starting for the house. "I need to tell the pack they can go home and visit for the rest of the day."

I listened from outside, and only caught that the pack was supposed to go back to the Cullen's house at noon, seven hours from now. Jacob was outside in twenty seconds (I counted), and then we were bolting for the forest.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, stopping and holding my hands up. "Bad idea."

He spun around, tilting his head to the side, confused. His expression made me laugh out loud.

"Since these clothes are wet, I bet they would stretch if I put them on my cord, and then phased," I explained, pointing to the leather cord attached to my left leg.

"Oh," he said. "Then, uh, driving, I guess?"

Jacob drove, and I insisted on sitting in the floor in front of the passenger seat, so that I didn't get his beautiful seats wet. Jacob tried to say it was okay, but I knew he was just trying to make me happy. I wanted to tell him that he would be unhappy if I ruined his seats, and that him being happy made me happy, which made him happy. Happiness gets happiness in return. So I sat in the floor, smiling brightly.

My house was soon visible in front of us. Well, it was visible to Jacob, from the driver's seat. But not the floor. Haha.

"We're here, hun," he said, tousling my hair for the millionth time. "Can we try not to wake your mom up? I'm sure she hasn't slept a freaking second."

I snickered before I hopped out of Jacob's Rabbit, and walked as quietly as I could towards my house. The doorknob creaked noisily, and I bit my lip as I tiptoed inside.

My mom wasn't in the living room, and all the lights were off. I glided as gracefully as I could through the darkness to my room, almost silent as I grabbed clothes and stuffed them in a bag. I changed into some dry clothes before I left my room.

I wrote a note to my mother, trying not to think of it as a goodbye note. But it could have been.

Hey, Mom, it's Seth.

Some terrible things have happened,

and I'll be leaving with the others to fix everything.

I'll miss you every second.

Love ya!

I didn't add that there was an enormous possibility that I wouldn't be coming back. I didn't add that... that one of my friends might not come back with us. The chance that we could lose, or the fact that we were gambling our whole (freaking) species to protect the ones we loved. She was on the council, and I was sure she knew that better than anyone, as intuitive as she was. But I tacked one thing to the end.

P.S. Leah will be okay too.

I was about to stick it to the wall, when I changed plans. My mother had always been one of the heaviest sleepers I had ever met. I slowly and easily slid through the mostly open door to my mother's bedroom. Sue Clearwater laid in the bed, silent, and unmoving if not for the slow breathing that made her body move. I carefully and silently dropped the note onto the bedside table. But before I ducked back out of the door, I noticed something.

My mother's face was different. It didn't seem at all peaceful. Something was off.

Oh. The cheek visible was shimmering in the tiny amount of light coming in through the window. She had been crying.

My heart splintered again, because my mom had probably been crying due to that both of her children were going off to a war that no one could control. I tried not to tear up again when I ducked out of the door and half-sprinted back to the car. Jacob took in the emotions on my face and tried to look nonchalant and comfortable.

"What time is it?" I asked, trying not to fall apart again. _What the crap is with me today? I swear, I feel like if I see a dead _plant,_ I'm gonna have a total meltdown!_

"Just 5:30, hun," he said, brushing his hand against my hair again.

Shivers trickled down my spine, and a warm feeling replaced the fragility that had before been dominant in my emotions.

"You will come back," he reassured, reading through my pretenses. "We will come back, we all will."

His confidence was addictive, like always. I couldn't help but to smile and nod, but I still bit my lip a little.

Jacob leaned over and kissed my neck. I felt blood rushing to my face, and laughed. My reason for laughing could not be found, probably because there wasn't one except that Jacob-Laughing-Syndrome was most likely contagious.

"Just drive, you nut," I said, pretending to pop him on the shoulder when he sat back down, beaming at me brilliantly. Did I mention that Jacob has perfect teeth?

When we got back to the Cullen's house, we found that most of the pack, except for Gary, Paul, Ricky, and Leah, were gone home, to tell their families that they had to leave for a while. Except the ones whose parents were in the dark. They were just home to get clothes for the long trip.

Carlisle, Esme, Peter, Charlotte, and Alice were talking in the kitchen, their voices muffled.

Paul and Leah were both outside, obviously staying away from us, while Gary, Ricky, Benjamin, and Tia played some kind of card game at the dining room table.

Marcus was sitting on a chair in the living room, reading a humongous book. He was reading very quickly, getting done with one page in two or three seconds. Then again, when you live more than three thousand years, you're bound to learn to read fast somewhere.

Bella, Edward, Nessie, and Nahuel were all sitting on the couch. Edward had his arm around Bella, and Nahuel sat very oddly, almost centering himself towards Renesmee, but trying not to seem territorial.

Bella smiled dazzlingly when we walked in.

"Hey, boys," she said, and jumped up to greet us.

"Um, hey, Bells," Jacob said as she threw her marble arms around us both. "What are you doing?"

"Just congratulating the love birds," she sang.

I could almost swear that both Jacob and I turned a deep shade of purplish blue. My eyes widened involuntarily, and I bit my lip for the millionth time. Then Bella was whispering in our ears.

"Edward is glad that you're taking Jacob out of our hands, Seth, but he'll never say it."

Marcus laughed a little from his chair, and I saw what book he was reading: _The Complete Works of William Shakespeare_. No wonder it was so darn thick.

"I heard that," Edward said casually as he flicked through the channels. "And I probably wouldn't have said anything, love."

Renesmee doubled over, laughter spilling from her mouth.

"I think it's cute," she laughed.

"In a, um, weird way," Bella said, her smile never faltering. "But very cute."

Jacob shot her a funny look and threw his arm around my shoulder. The muscle of his arm was dizzyingly warm.

"I thought you were never gonna find anybody Seth!" Nessie chimed, smiling at me brilliantly.

I flashed her a smile, but it must have seemed mediocre in a place full of beautiful, brilliant teethed vampires, plus Jacob.

"Have we gotten a call from the others yet?" Jacob asked suddenly.

Then the light, airy feeling in the room subsided to make way for tension. Without Jasper here to help calm things a little, it was much tenser than usual.

"Yes," Edward said. "They called thirty minutes before they landed in Florida. That was right after you two left to get Seth's clothes. The sun is shining there, and that might make things a little more difficult. They'll have to wait a few more hours for night to fall there before they can know for sure if the Volturi really are on Isla Didyme."

"But Alice saw something in the future," Bella took over. "The Seattle Coven is not planning to leave yet, because they know that we're going, but they might go with us when we leave. Instead of having the scout party come back after they find out where the Volturi are, we are going to meet the others there. Jasper had time to get some kind of non-traceable phone, so they can call us to tell us when they know."

"I hope the Seattle Coven does come to help," Marcus said, closing the book and setting it back perfectly on the shelf. "Some of Aro's new guards are very dangerous. They have powers I have never witnessed in my 3,195 years. Weather control, seismic waves from bare hands, electricity from nowhere... There were eight, but now there are only seven additions to the guard, but they are powerful. I doubt this will be anything near easy."

"Wait, I thought you said that the Volturi had been infecting like crazy?" Jacob asked, confused.

"Well, seven newborns in almost a year _is_ infecting like crazy for my brothers," Marcus explained, standing. "Trenton, Kereana, Hallie, Felicia, Rory, Elijah, Oberon... and then you took out Gregory. That's a good thing too, because his power was deadly, but if you had any idea what their powers are... I don't know all of their powers, but I know a few. Kereana is just like Alec, with the desensitization. Trenton, as you know, can _taste_ abilities or potential abilities. Hallie can stop any change within a person, except for normal bodily functions. You witnessed that yourself, when you couldn't phase into your wolf form. Felicia can control weather, and generate electricity from her fingertips. Elijah controls seismic waves, but what our Benjamin can do is much more powerful. Rory, Oberon... these two I'm not sure of. But I assume they are just as deadly as their comrades, or even more so."

The conversation continued without Jacob and I. I found that many conversations that we started ended up with us leaving. Haha.

We made our way outside. The only notice of our leaving was from Bella, who shot us another dazzling smile. Leah and Paul both scattered in different directions when we got outside, but Leah was laughing like a hyena.

"I feel a little overloaded," I confessed as we sat in the grass beyond the patio, to the left side of the pool. "Suddenly, the love of my life is all over me like we were always like this."

He laughed once before I kept going on.

"Then we are at war, a war that I still think we have a shot to win... but there'll be costs. I'm not exactly prepared to, well... to deal with any kind of loss... I feel like we're being balanced on the edge of a knife. One wrong move and its-"

I moved my finger across my throat in a melodramatic throat-slice movement.

Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Seth, don't worry! You didn't used to worry, you know. I guess I'm the reason you're like that, aren't I." It wasn't a question. "When we were facing the Volturi last time, you were totally fearless, just like you always were. But now..."

He frowned, pouting his lip. I felt instantly guilty. He was more than right. When the Volturi had been here last December, I had been pumped, ready for action. And now...

I realized, too, that it had something to do with Jacob. Always being on the watch for anything that might say that someone else even had the idea that I had imprinted on Jake. It wasn't near as bad, and was getting better every minute I was with him. Maybe I really would be back to my old self soon. I fervently hoped so.

"I'm sorry," I said. I didn't really know how to say anything else without sounding like a total moron. "I really am trying to get back to the way I was. It's a lot easier when you're with me, but when you're gone, no matter how long, it just... gets worse."

"I know," he said, almost whispered. "It's the same for me. I haven't felt this way about a person besides Renesmee, but the connection between Nessie and me was nowhere near as strong as the hold you have on me. But when I have to go, or you do, for no matter how long, I just kinda start to tear apart, like somebody slowly taking me apart." He deliberated again, waiting for my reaction. "I know, it sounds retarded, right?"

Far from it. My eyes were wide and my mouth was open, just the tiniest bit, in awe. He was a lot deeper than everyone gave him credit for. Except me. I always knew. I knew everything about him possible to know.

"No," I responded, blinking and making myself look less dumbfounded. "That was... that was just... that was wow."

He laughed huskily again, and goosebumps ran up and down my spine when he grabbed my hand and made me let go of the piece of grass I had been playing with.

"Wow?" Jacob laughed, rocking back and forth a little from laughing. "Look who learned a big boy word!"

I blushed bright-red.

He smiled at me just as a sudden explosion of light erupted from the east.

Jacob and I both snapped our heads towards the sun as it began its slow journey up into the sky.

"Our first sunrise?" Jacob whispered, leaning in to kiss me.

"That was corny," I whispered back, teasing him.

I tilted my face to the side and closed my eyes. How many times had we kissed today? Eight times, maybe? Eight, on the first day we're together. And the day had barely even began. Great.

My fingers intertwined in _his_ hair this time, and I held him to me.

Kissing Jacob was absolutely the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me. Nothing at all could come close in comparison. It was easy, simple, like breathing. But when we were kissing, we sometimes forgot to breathe. It was only when Jacob would gasp, or I would gasp, that we realized that it was necessary. Needless to say, we both were obsessed with the other, and neither of us could stand to let go of the other for half a second.

And neither one of us could bear to stop.

* * *

~FINALLIFELINE~


	13. Altitude

**DISCLAIMER: Everything in this fanfiction belongs to Stephenie Meyer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except for my made up characters, of course. And the storyline.**

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~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~With You by Linkin Park~-~

~-~Alien by Thriving Ivory~-~

* * *

~-~Wakened Autumn~-~

-Seth's Story-

* * *

13. ALTITUDE

ANOTHER BURST OF TURBULANCE THREATENED TO WAKE ME.

If I had been the tiniest bit awake, I would have groaned.

But, even in sleep, I felt like I was being watched. Ever since we got the news that the Volturi were now stationed on Isla Didyme, I had been aware of everything, as if someone had poked some kind of nerve and that woke me up even more to the tragedy that lay in wait nearby.

In my dreams, Caius's red, clouded eyes were on me, watching me in particular, as he advanced with his army. I was not alone in my nightmare. Jacob was there, and the Cullens, the Hales. The Denalis were even there, with the Amazonians and the entire pack ready to fight till the end. The two Egyptians and the two nomads were there, waiting in the background, for something that I couldn't see.

But I was human. While my Jacob stood resolutely beside me, towering more than five feet above my eyes, as I lay on the ground, staring in horror at the minions of death that advanced towards us.

I could see every face in the incoming onslaught. None of them did I know. But every one of them wore some kind of frozen, apathetic expression.

Except from one stare, the hell-red haze that emitted from Caius's eyes, longing for death... my death.

A warm hand on my shoulder shook me out of my nightmare.

I almost yelled when my eyes snapped open to a dim light that was shining above me.

"Seth, wake up, bro," Jacob was saying, as he gently shook my right shoulder.

His voice relaxed every muscle and nerve in my body, like it always did. The feeling that clouded red eyes were watching me from somewhere dissipated until it wasn't even a whisper in my subconscious. I flung my arms gently around Jacob, who was sitting in the window seat to the direct right of me.

He let out a husky gasp of surprise before he wrapped his strong arms around me, holding me to him gently.

I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly through my nose, taking in all of the Jacob-smell I could. I could only hope that heaven would smell like Jacob.

"Morning," he said, skipping the "good" part.

"Hi," I said, my throat dry.

I didn't let go of him, but I did look around the plane. It was dark, except for one very dim light that continued to shine above Jacob and I. All of the window blinds were shut tight, and most of the passengers were asleep.

I looked behind us, and saw the rest of the pack, all asleep. The pack took up the whole back end. The vampires were all on a different plane, since we couldn't all fit on just one. I gave up on looking, bored within ten seconds, and nestled my head into Jacob's chest, closing my eyes.

"How close are we to... the next stop?" I said groggily. As if I could be expected to remember the next place we would change planes. Ha. Funny.

"Another hour," he said, heaving a heavy sigh.

"Woopee," I said half-heartedly, trying to stay awake.

Jacob laughed a little at my fake enthusiasm.

"On the plus side," he whispered. "We'll be in the middle of a tropical paradise in just four hours."

"When I imagined us in a tropical paradise," I whispered back, still holding myself together to stay awake. "I didn't figure an army of blood-sucking super-powered vampires into the picture."

He laughed huskily again.

"Neither did I," he said.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked.

"I haven't slept a wink," he said, like it didn't bother him one bit.

"You know, I'm starting to think Bella is right to worry about you," I said. "You don't get enough sleep."

"Says the boy that tried his hardest not to sleep at all to keep his dreams away from me," he teased, and then kissed my forehead.

"Hm, thanks," I said. "Being accused of hypocrisy is definitely what I need first thing in the morning... or is it morning? What time is it?"

"Just about two in the morning," he said.

"Is it even legal to put 'just' in front of 'two in the morning'?" I asked, laughing quietly so as not to wake our fellow passengers.

"Did you sleep okay?" he asked, ignoring my jab.

"I slept... alright," I said, and I could feel Caius's eyes on me once again.

Jacob sensed my discomfort.

"Bad dreams?" he said, concern flooding his voice.

"Very," I said. No need to hide anything from him. "It was weird... really dark. Caius's army was there, and we were there too, and I think we were waiting for something. I couldn't see what though..."

"Hm," he said, and in the dim light, I could see his brow furrow. "Maybe you ate something funny. I'll bet that bacon back at the I.H.O.P. was bad."

"It did taste kinda funny." I chuckled again, before I moved my head from his chest to his left shoulder. "I think I'm gonna pass out again on you again, man."

"Go ahead," he said. "Maybe if you don't let go of me, the bad dreams will stay away."

"Or maybe you just want me for my body," I teased again, my voice as groggy as it could be.

He laughed quietly again.

"You should get some sleep, too, Jake. You're gonna need all the strength you can get, ya know."

"I'll be fine," he said- right before he yawned the biggest yawn in the history of yawns.

"Your yawn doesn't think so, bro," I said, smiling.

I was drifting off before he finished his next sentence.

"...maybe I could catch a few...*yawn*...z's..."

I felt his head nudge against mine before I drifted back into sleep.

Jacob and I slept for the rest of that flight. We got off to change planes in city "Whatever", population "I'm-Too-Tired-To-Remember". When we got onto the next plane, Jacob crashed again before we even took off. I followed suit just half a minute later, maybe less.

Jacob was right though. Keeping my arms around him, or his arms around me, did help to keep the dreams away. Caius's eyes no longer followed me wherever I went. Why they were on me in the first place was beyond my imagining.

The next time I woke up, it was dark. If I hadn't heard Jacob's snoring, I would've thought I was still asleep. I was lying on something big and squashy. It was very warm, too, but not like Jacob-warm. And something huge and soft- a blanket, I imagined- was covering me.

I could tell that I was still wearing all of the clothes I had worn on the long plane trip here, except my shoes.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness and I could tell where I was now. I was lying on a large bed, beside which stood a small dresser, with a lamp drilled into it. A hotel room. There was another bed a little ways away, and I could make out a human shape on it, sleeping silently. Jacob's soft snoring was the only sound in the room, but it was a distance away too. I could make out the outline of a humongous recliner, in which Jacob- I could tell because his legs stuck out a foot from the end- was asleep.

I decided within two seconds that the bed wasn't warm enough for me, and silently got up and walked over to the way-oversized recliner and somehow managed to nestle myself into Jacob's side, wrapping my arms around him.

The day on the plane had exhausted both of us, even though I had been asleep nearly the whole time. Regardless, I drifted to sleep for what was probably the tenth time today.

I woke up alone, and the room was much brighter. The curtains on the window had been opened, and let in sunlight brighter than Forks or La Push had seen in a half a century. In this new light, the hotel room had become truly visible to me, rather than being made up of the dark outlines that I had been aware of before. I could tell that this was most likely one of the most expensive hotels in all of Florida, courtesy of Carlisle Cullen, of course.

I was covered in a blanket, again, but I felt weird without Jacob laying next to me. I wasn't near warm enough. I shifted a little, and looked around.

_Here we are_, I thought. _Waiting to go to our dooms._

I wondered suddenly if coming here was just like opening the door for death and greeting it with a kiss. I sighed.

"Hey," an unmistakable husky voice said softly.

Jacob was standing by the wall that separated the chair from the door to the bathroom. His face was content, but not quite happy.

"Jacob!"

I jumped up and threw myself at my other half. My arms were around him with no trouble, but it knocked the wind out of him. The air flew out of his lungs in one sharp huff, and then he wrapped his arms around me too, laughing quietly.

"Happy to see me, I guess?" Jacob teased, squeezing me tightly.

"Freaking yes," I said, a smile jumping onto my face.

He loosened his hold on me slightly. A strange wave of vertigo hit me, and I swayed to the side and staggered backwards.

"Whoa," I said, pressing my palm up to my forehead. "Head rush."

He had me sitting down in the recliner in half a second.

"Crap, how long did I sleep?" I mumbled, shaking my head numbly.

"Just long enough that Sam and Emily finally got married, Leah and Harry Potter had a baby, and we started world war three," he said, trying to keep his tone serious while the teasing seeped into his words.

I snorted.

"Get real, Jake," I said, shaking my head from left to right.

"You slept all day yesterday, and then all night. It's really just 10:00 in the morning, hun. The others are downstairs in the restaurant eating breakfast."

"Wow," I said, over-exaggerating the word into three syllables.

"You sure you don't need more sleep," he said. "You didn't sleep at all night before last. Which, by the way, was the freaking longest night ever. Do you realize how much happened?"

I nodded as I thought through everything that had happened slowly.

At about 8 PM that night, I learned that Jacob had imprinted on me... then we went for a walk in the woods, where we were attacked by Caius and his minions... at about 10 PM, Marcus showed up at the Cullen's house... for hours, plans were made, and the scout team went to Florida. How hard it was to believe that Jacob and I had only been together for not even two days yet.

"Is the scout team here?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I haven't seen them personally." His eyes were slightly contemplative. "Carlisle and Edward met up with the others a few hours ago, when it was still dark. The scout team was in a totally different city, a good two hour drive away from here, but they're here now."

"Where is here, exactly?"

"Panama City," he said, as if it held no interest for him.

"Wow." I blinked back at the light when I glanced towards the window. Then I had an epiphany. "When you said the _others_ are down eating breakfast..."

"The pack, I meant to say," he clarified. "The vamps are all camped out in the forest." He started smiling like something was funny.

I giggled at his expression. He let a laugh out too.

"What the crap are you laughing at?" I said, still giggling.

"Well, Leah caught a little bit of bad karma, I think," he laughed, his smile growing so wide that I knew it had to hurt a little. His brilliant white teeth caught me off guard.

"Wha... what happened?" I said, staring at the ever-so-perfect Jacob.

"Um, she ordered an omelet while I was still down there, with a lot of stuff in it, like bacon, cheese, green peppers, the works. The lady at the counter- she's kinda old, and I think she's Chinese, but anyway- she looked at Leah funny when she ordered and said-..."

He laughed raucously.

"What?" I said, shaking his shoulder a little. I laughed too, at him. "What did she say?!"

"She..." More laughing. "She said..." He let out one more burst of laughter before he delivered the punch line. "'Not with that butt, you don't!'"

My mouth fell open and I doubled over laughing. I fell off of the chair, and Jacob laughed with me. We both were laughing so hard that I was crying by the time we could get ourselves back under control.

I sighed and sat cross-legged on the carpet by the chair. As I rested my head on his knee.

"It's kinda sad, though," he continued. "The rest of the pack practically died laughing. She ran off crying. She's in her hotel room now."

"Aw," I said. It was kinda sad. Leah was a pain a lot of the time, but she was second-in-command of the pack. She had almost as much authority as Jacob, though I forgot this most of the time. I couldn't really tell between Beta Leah and Annoying Leah. I guess, even though she bugged the life out of me, she was still my sister, and I loved her. What hurt her, hurt me a little. Which was weird beyond compare. "Poor Leah. Our laughter at her expense."

"Well, she did laugh at us, you know," he said, messing up my hair again.

"Yeah, but I guess she has right to laugh at us," I countered. "We're a pretty funny pair."

Jake laughed again before he scooped me up in his arms and carried me towards where my shoes sat. I pulled my shoes on by myself, since we couldn't really walk around barefoot in a trillion dollar hotel without attracting attention. I was wearing black Converses. Add in the dark-dark-blue jeans, the black Green Day t-shirt, and a gray hoodie, and my outfit just screams "punk". Or future rock star, whichever comes first.

Jacob was wearing normal white, silver, and blue shoes, a pair of khaki shorts, and a gray sweater that had the word "Toronto" written in red letters on it. His shirt should have said, "I'm with stupid" with a huge arrow on the front that followed me everywhere. Haha.

"Isla Didyme is quite a long way away," he explained as we rode the clear glass elevator down to the lobby area. "It's almost impossible to find, I don't know how we even found out that the leeches really _are_ on that island."

The other wolves, excluding Leah, were all sitting at a huge rectangular table, which turned out to be three tables moved together.

Paul shot us a funny look when we sat down, not bothering to get food yet. He was seated in front of me and to the left.

I decided to retaliate this time.

"What, Paul? You jealous that Jake's all over me instead of you? Screw off!"

His face went from hatred to revulsion, from revulsion to shock, and then he turned bright red. Collin and Jared, who were sitting to the left and right of him, snickered loudly, and Michael, at the other end of the table, shot orange juice out his nose.

"Oh, good Lord," Sam said, shaking his head.

Jacob was doubled over in laughter.

"Where the hell did that come from, homo?" Paul blurted, his eyes full of hatred.

He stood up, his body starting to tremble.

I stood up in response, suddenly shaking as well. I was starting to see red, but then Jacob stood up with me. When I could see clearly, he was holding my arm tightly and towering over both me and Paul, who was quite a bit taller than me, but not near as tall as Jacob, or as muscled up.

Paul looked like he was going to jump at me any second.

"Go on!" I said through my teeth. "Hit me."

"Seth," Embry chided, trying to calm me down.

"Don't edge him on," Jacob muttered softly in my ear, as people at other tables gave us startled looks.

"I can handle this," I said, loud enough for all of them to hear. Every one at the table, save for Paul, looked afraid. I had never made an angry outburst to anyone. Shocked, grossed out, or argumentative, maybe, but never angry. "You gonna hit me or what? Or would you rather we duked it out right here, right now? I'm pretty sure it would piss Rachel off if I broke your face."

Playing the imprint card wasn't fair, but he had already played that one on me. Since he was going to marry Jacob's sister, Rachel, in February, we would practically be family. That would be hell.

He didn't reply, but he did tremble violently for a second before his face returned to normal color, and he sat down.

I glared at him balefully before I sat down too, crossing my arms across my midsection.

The entire table was quieter, and the only sound was of heavy breathing and forks scraping across plates and teeth.

Jacob broke the silence.

"So, Sam," he said, leaning towards Sam, who was sitting a few seats away. "When is the wedding going to be?"

"Next month," Sam said, smiling. "Emily didn't want it to be in the summer, so we moved it to fall."

I couldn't help but smile a little. The wedding date had been changed close to four times. It had almost happened in the spring, after the first Volturi threat, but got canceled. Same for the other three times. I was glad to see that they had a new date. I just hoped that we all got through this to see the wedding.

The low ache in my stomach became real for two reasons. The imminent war was part of it, but slight hunger was another.

"I'm hungry," Jacob said, as if I was speaking through him.

"Good, so am I."

Jacob and I got our breakfast from the long buffet, and Jacob even pointed out the woman that had made Leah cry. Jacob got more food than an elephant could eat, and I got nearly as much.

Paul didn't look at us again until we had all finished eating. Jake and I ate fast, so that we wouldn't be left alone, although I wouldn't have minded that.

Jacob explained everything going on today while we were eating. He called it our "agenda". _Yeah,_ I thought. _Agenda of doom._

Meeting with Carlisle was first on the agenda. Apparently, the sewers (that's right, the freaking _sewers,_ where the vampires were hidden from the sun) of Panama City were big and dry enough for us to hold a meeting without having to worry much about... about _that_. At least I had a strong stomach.

Second on our agenda_ (of doom) _was scouting. The vampires were thinking of the pack as their only connection to the world where the sun was shining, so Collin, Brady, Michael, Gary, Ricky, Iliana, Warren, Steven, Chris, Jacob, and myself were going. The younger ones, which excluded Collin, Brady, Jacob, and myself, were to spread out across the shoreline to make sure the coast was clear, no pun intended.

And third was food. Of course. What else could be better to end a day in the life of a werewolf than to pig out on whatever we could find?

The first part of the agenda, the sickening trip to the sewers was planned for three o'clock. We had hours until then. But then again, time with Jacob flew by too quickly.

The entrance to the sewers of Panama City was at our feet. I glanced around the strange, dark alleyway. The darkness didn't come from nighttime, but because the top of the alleyway was covered up. It was still bright with daylight outside the alley. The entire pack stood in a clumped circle, with Sam, Jared, Quil, Jacob, and I at the center. We all stared down at the hole as Quil reached down and yanked off the top, sliding it to the side so we could get through.

"It looks a little too small for us all to get through," Jared said, almost apathetically.

"The biggest of us should go first," Sam said. "Just to test it out."

Every eye went to Jacob, who stood at a whopping 6'9". (Sam was next tallest at 6'7", then Quil and Jared, both being 6'3". Next came me and Embry, both being about 6 feet. Then Leah, at 5'9". The rest were pretty even after that, the median being about 5'7"-5'8".)

"This should be fun," he muttered, letting go of me unwillingly.

As he stepped forward, I muttered, "Be safe" and looked down cautiously into the deep, dark, damp hole that my Jacob was about to travel down into. There were metal bars that were meant to act together as a ladder, like the ones you see in bad horror movies. I couldn't really see the bottom, but I knew it was there... well, I hoped it was there.

Jacob fit, but only by a few inches on each side. I held my breath as he started the descent. He shot me a "you're such a cute dork" look before he vanished into the darkness.

I bit my lip so hard that I could taste iron.

"So, who's next?" Sam said, clapping his hands together.

"Me," Quil said, before he jumped into the hole. His feet slipped a little on the bars, but he caught his balance quickly as we all watched with wary eyes.

When Quil's head disappeared into the dark hole, his voice rang out within microseconds.

"Damn!" he shouted, and my eyes were probably bugging out a bit. "It's _stinks_ down in here!"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, smirking.

"I'll go next," I said, mostly because I felt a little cold without Jacob next to me, no matter how many living space heaters were standing next to me. It wasn't "Jacob" warm.

Sam nodded once as I took a wary step towards the darkness. I got to the edge and looked down. I could feel a strange, chilly draft coming from out of the hole.

"Man, it really does stink," Iliana and Jared muttered behind me.

Then I put my hands on the side of the hole and slowly lowered myself into the darkness where I knew my Jacob would be waiting for me. My descent into the hole was long. I was sure I had gone sixty feet when I heard Quil's voice from down below me. Way below.

"What the hell?" he said. "Does this tunnel lead down to the center of the earth or something?"

"Can you see the bottom, Seth?" Sam yelled from above as I tried to ignore the wretched smell.

"No," I shouted back. "Quil's not even to the bottom yet!"

I heard uneasy sighing and chatter from high above me.

"Has Jake gotten to the bottom yet?" Jared hollered.

"Hey, Quil," I shouted down, trying not to slip.

"Yeah?" he yelled back. He was farther away than before.

"Has Jacob made it to the end yet?"

"I don't know," he replied. My heart skipped a few beats. "He hasn't said a word since he started down."

Quil sounded a good seventy-five feet down from where I was.

I started climbing down faster. The darkness was making me claustrophobic.

"Did you guys catch that?" I yelled back up to the pack.

"Yeah," Leah's voice came. The voices from above me were much farther away than I remembered. My heart started beating faster.

"Jacob?" I yelled, as loud as I could. My voice broke a bit at the end.

"Jesus, Seth!" Quil said. "I don't think they heard you in _Paris_!"

"Sorry," I apologized, a little quieter. "Are you at the bottom yet, Jake?"

A faint whisper echoed up through the tunnel. It was indecipherable, but I could have sworn it was Jacob.

"That sounded like a 'yes' to me," Quil shouted to me, sounding a little more optimistic.

"Hey, we think he's gotten to the bottom," I told the pack.

They responded, but it was barely louder than what I had heard from below me. Nevertheless, it sounded like a "good".

"Hey, Seth," a voice from almost directly above me said. It was Leah.

"Hey, sis," I replied starting to get breathless.

"You okay?" she said, her maternal side coming through a little. "Maybe you should've brought you're inhaler."

I scoffed softly, still a little breathless.

"I haven't had an asthma attack since third grade," I replied, and she laughed.

"Okay, I was just making sure you're alright," she said.

"Thanks," I replied. No matter how buggy Leah could be, she was still very protective of me. "How far to the bottom?" I yelled downwards.

"I just got there!" Quil replied.

Then another husky voice answered from close by.

"Just about fifty more feet, guys," Jacob said.

"Grea-"

I never finished that word. The rest came out in a garbled gasp of shock as I lost my footing and plummeted downwards. I bashed my head hard on the crudely-made tunnel wall, and I could feel blood seeping from where it was hit. I was vaguely aware of that odd feeling in your stomach when gravity pulls you downwards, and of Leah's shocked yell when I fell.

A pair of big, warm arms caught me, and another pair held me up. I was so dizzy and dazed that I comprehended absolutely nothing of whatever they were saying, or see anything. Something soft pressed against the gash on the back of my head, and then I could hear a higher, more feminine voice beside me.

It was about twenty seconds before I could really hear them.

"Seth, say something, bro!" That was Quil.

"Crap! Do something, CPR, slap him, something!" My sister.

"Seth, you need to say something, or I'll go nuts, here!"

Then I could speak.

"Ugh... what the hell was that?" I mumbled, all the words coming out slurred and the echo off the walls made my head hurt.

Light flooded my eyes, which I had opened. No wonder it had been so dark. My eyes were shut.

"Thank God," Leah said. "Mom would kill me if you got hurt."

"Leah," I said, sitting up in Jacob's arms. "We're about to go face an army of bloodsucking, super-powered, probably psychotic vampires, and you think that was bad? That was nothing."

Quil and Leah were both looking at me like I was nuts. I kinda hoped they were right. A sane person would never agree to climbing down that damn hole. Or maybe just a teenager would.

My head healed quickly, as the rest of our pack family dropped out of the dark hole into what appeared to be some kind of antechamber. The whole room was damp, and mold plastered every inch of the walls. A big door with a circular crank handle stood ominously at the other end of the chamber.

When all seventeen of us were down in the antechamber, Jacob started to carry me to the door. I shifted uncomfortably in his arms.

"Do you want down?" he said.

"Not really, but I think I need to walk now," I replied. I wasn't sure we could both get through that door if he carried me.

"Kay," he said gently, and set me on my feet. I gave Jacob the cloth that had been pressed to the wound, and realized it was his shirt, now covered in my blood. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and tried not to smile. Did he have to be so... so muscular?

When we got to the door, Jared and Sam hopped forward and twisted the door twist thing. When it opened, a strange breath-like sound seemed to push itself from the cracks. The two tall boys pulled the door open, and before us stood our vampire comrades.

But they seemed a little off.

Our Cullens were there, flanked by the Denalis, the Amazonians, the two Egyptians, Peter, Charlotte and Marcus, but now there were more.

I recognized a few of the new additions. Mary and Randell, two more friends from the first Volturi threat; Makenna and Charles, both of whom had been witness to the Volturi once upon a time; Carmen and Eleazar, the other members of the Denali family.

But there was a tiny black haired girl, no taller than Alice, but she was definitely of Mexican descent, despite her bleached white skin. I suspected she was Maria, one of Jasper's old companions.

And then there were five others, and I knew them instantly to be the Seattle Coven. Jennie, Barron, Patrick, Erica, and then another, who I suspected was the other newest member to their clan. He was a boy, no younger than any of the younger wolves- physically, anyway- with medium-length black hair, and a sad, almost heartbroken face. The other members of the clan eyed the wolves with thankfulness. The new one didn't even seem to notice our entrance.

Then I noticed what seemed a little off. Many of the vampires were crouched, ready to spring, but not at us, at something in the middle of all of their ranks.

Bella Cullen stood tall in the midst of the crouched vampires. Her hands were outstretched, and I could almost feel her shield being pushed to protect the entering wolves, as well as everyone else in the room. All except one person.

In the middle of the room, being blocked away by Jasper, Marcus, Emmett, Kate, Tanya, Benjamin, and Edward, sat a tiny girl, also no taller than Alice. At first glance I thought she was a beautiful boy, but then I saw her red, clouded eyes. Then I realized.

An enemy was among us.

Jane, as perfect in my memory as she was now, let out an ear-piercing scream.

Carlisle turned towards us slowly.

"Plans have changed."

* * *

**Okay, so I made this the longest chapter yet! Are ya happy? :D I sure hope so.**

**If I could have named this chapter another name, it would have been "Down The Rabbit Hole", in honor of Alice In Wonderland... haha, I am soooo gay... 3 peace!  
**

**~-~FinalLifeline~-~  
**


	14. Deliverance

**DISCLAIMER!!!!!: I do not own anything, it all belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer!**

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~-~SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

~-~Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce~-~

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Okay!!! I know it took me a freaking LONG time for me to get this one up, but it took a lot out of me! And I've been uber busy, but I'll have SO much more free time after this weekend, I'll be able to finish this story soon, and get working on the sequel!!!

The sequel will be called...STARLIGHT!

Okay, so this is where all the action starts!!! There are twists and turns and craziness, but I hope you love it!!!!!!!

By the way, the next chapter will be called "Smoke"!

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~-~Wakened Autumn~-~

Seth's Story

* * *

14. DELIVERANCE

My jaw clenched as Jane's blood-boiling scream drew near an end. I could tell what she was trying to do: it was as plain as the nose on her face. The look in her eyes was a dead give away.

Her eyes were red, like fire, but far more piercing.

I could almost feel where her gaze hit every one of us, over and over again as her frenzied eyes flicked to our faces, time after time. If it weren't for Bella, all of us would be writhing in pain at her feet, bent to her mercy. But she was our prisoner. A prisoner of our war.

My eyes tightened and my nostrils flared. The Cullens scent was nothing like the Volturi's scent, like Jane's scent. The Volturi's scent was so much stronger, as if it was one hundred times as concentrated. Every werewolf in the dark chamber was starting to see red, just like I was, and the tremors and heat from the very center of our beings was trying to force itself out into our arms and legs.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Jacob spat.

Carlisle took a step forward, holding his hand towards us as if to lessen the tremors and stop anyone from phasing before it happened.

"Bella, Emmett, and Benjamin caught her just a few hours ago," the doctor explained. "She was scouting for them, for Caius, but with Marcus on our side, we have access to all of their hiding places. It wasn't too hard to find her."

Jane screamed again, thrashing and bashing her marble head on the concrete floor, where it left a huge dent.

"God _damn_ it!" she screeched. I had never seen the usually apathetic vampire show more emotion other than a small gasp, let alone the violent fit she was throwing now. "This will be the end of you, Carlisle!!! They're coming for me, and you know it!!!"

A million growls erupted from our small army, including from me and Jake. I found that I was leaning in towards her from under Jacob's arm, wanting so badly to rip the witch to shreds.

"I swear to God," Bella yelled, and I could almost felt something like a shock-wave shoot through her shield as Jane's unyielding glare shot towards her a million times, not doing harm at all. Bella had her skill absolutely perfected. "I swear to God, you freaking demon, I will rip you to pieces myself if you don't keep the hell quiet!"

Jane ignored her, and her agonized voice ripped through our ears.

"I'd like you see you _try_ to get me!" she screamed, and for once, she seemed to be regaining the smallest ounce of self-control. "Aro knows I'm here, he'll come looking for me himself, and Alec too, if he cares enough!"

She let out a heartless laugh.

I growled again as her head leaned back, and her laugh shrunk, still as demonic as it had been before. She was in hysterics, as if what she had said contained any humor in it at all.

"This means that the Volturi know we're here now," Carlisle continued, as if Jane had never interrupted at all. "Felix and Afton were with her when we captured her, but they were gone too fast for us to have stopped them in time."

My heart sank deeper inside me, and I frowned, growling lowly again. I doubted anyone missed it though.

"We have to get Josh out of there tonight, now if we can," one of the Seattle coven said, the taller blonde boy.

I wondered if I was the only one who noticed the newer dark haired Seattle vampire flinch at the sound of Josh's name.

"I agree entirely," Carmen of the Denali coven said.

"Nothing is more terrible than a loss of our own," Makenna, the European nomad with a light French accent, whispered.

The violence-hating leader of the Cullens nodded his head.

"What are your thoughts, Jacob?" he said, inclining his head towards my Alpha and soulmate.

Jacob looked around at the ones he led, looking each one of them carefully in the eyes.

"We're ready for this," Jacob said finally, turning back to Carlisle.

"Oh, I sure hope you are, honey-bunch!!!" Jane was screaming again, hitting her head against the concrete again, creating a bigger dent.

"I told you to _shut it!_" Bella spat. It was then that I noticed the crescent shaped marks on her arms, glowing as if they were back-lighted. Jane must have bitten her.

Jane growled again, but the vampires preventing her from escape growled in return, and she crunched up into a ball, putting her head between her knees.

"What will you do if..." I could tell what Carlisle was getting at, and it hammered at another part of my heart: the part reserved for my pack. "...if one of your pack doesn't return?"

Jacob almost smiled, but I could see the pain, the bleeding terror in his eyes.

"That won't happen," he assured Carlisle, but I could feel that he was assuring me at the same time, for his hand seemed to tighten slightly around me. But his promise was hollow. I could feel it. Loss was looming over us, waiting for the first time we would let down our guard, and then tragedy would strike.

"We are ready," Quil said, from Jacob's direct left. "We've fought beside you before, this time shouldn't be so different."

I frowned slightly, but no one would've been able to see the difference, I was already frowning. I bit my lip and sighed, blinking slowly.

"Besides," Quil went on, chuckling a little. "Us wolves are way ready to open up some whoop-ass on those Volturi punks."

Carlisle smiled at Quil, and Jane let loose another of her ear-slicing cackles.

"What's the plan, Doc?" Jacob said, his eyes glinting with excitement.

Collin, Brady, Michael, Gary, Ricky, Iliana, Warren, Steven, Chris, Jacob, and myself were stationed along the coast, in pairs. The other wolves, Leah, Sam, Paul, Jared, Quil, and Embry, were in different places, but we weren't given the whole plot, in case there was a possibility of being captured. Then at least Aro wouldn't know everything.

The vampires were all stationed somewhere too, but we had also been hidden from that information. All we knew was that they were waiting to give us a signal.

The only exception to the numbering of the pairs was the group that Jacob and I consisted of. This group also contained Brady, who was only the tiniest bit uncomfortable around us, but only when we were really close.

Isla Didyme was made up of one main island, which you could only see if they wanted you to see, or if you had a good plan and good eyes.

Directly to the right and left of the main island were two smaller islands, Athenodora and Sulpicia. The two smaller islands seemed to flank the larger island, and they were just as invisible as Isla Didyme herself. From what Carlisle remembered, in perfect vampire HD (of course), the two smaller islands were used like guard stations, and mounted at the highest points of these two islands, twin colossal black guard towers stood above everything. When Carlisle had been with the Volturi, they had been known as the Monoliths, and also as The Watchers.

Thanks to Edward's exceptionally useful gift, we knew the Volturi's plans- at least, everything Aro had entrusted to his dearest Jane. I doubted he had told her everything. Jane was being babysat by Bella, of course, as well as Kate and Jasper. If something went awry, Jane would be burned within seconds. We probably wouldn't even wait to tear her apart- just burn her were she stood.

The island trio was far enough that Edward couldn't hear their minds, or even sense that they were there. But I did learn how we knew they were, besides Jane, of course: Edward had gone on a solo scout mission, swimming out in the ocean far enough that he could sense their minds' presence on the islands. He was incredibly lucky, though, because he wasn't detected at all, and he could tell. I guessed that luck just came with the whole vampire gig.

The five pairs, and our group of three, were set up all along the coastline, waiting for some kind of the signal. The vampires had assured us that we would know it when we saw it. We were waiting now. Just waiting.

At the signal, we were to head towards the source of it, whatever and wherever that would be, and what we found would get us to the island fast. We would be headed for the two smaller islands, the guard towers. If we could get past the guard members on those islands, or destroy them in the process, then we would be good.

I was deep in worry. I was stuck in it. Hopeless questions whirled through my already dizzy mind:

_Would we be able to even get to Josh?_

_If we lost too many, how were the others to survive?_

_If we lost too many, could the others to survive at all?_

_Would I ever be able to forgive myself if something happened to the younger wolves?_

_If I died, what would happen to Jacob?_

But the worst of these worrying questions stuck on me like it was nailed to me, a note written in blood.

_Would I be able to live if something happened to Jacob?_

I tried to shake it off, but that made it hurt worse. Another knife in my heart, a stain that would never come off. I shook it off again, and concentrated on our plans again, and then again, over and over. I was sure I could quote it completely if need be when Brady got my attention.

The three of us (Jacob, Brady, and myself) had positioned ourself on one of the beaches, awaiting this oh-so-important signal, the signal to charge. We were sitting nonchalantly around a log, none of us talking. We were trying to look like tourists every chance we could; I guess we could be called tourists, but I never thought of tourists as battle-ready mythical monsters.

"So," Brady began, grinning at me. His usually perfectly preppy light brown hair was messy now, probably due to lack of sleep. The sunset gave it a bit of a red tint to it. "You guys are a-, a couple now." He kept grinning. I couldn't help but feel a bit surprised. When we had come out to the pack, he had been one of the ones that had been okay with mine and Jacob's sudden lovey-doveyness. He hadn't, although, verbally expressed that. "I think it's kinda cute, ya know. There aren't enough gay people in La Push. There are plenty in Forks, I guess."

He leaned back against the log, and grinned a little more. Jacob's mouth was open into a neat 'O' and mine was probably the same. I wondered why we (either of us) had heard this in his mind in wolf form. But neither of us had been "wolf" while he was for a few days.

"Now that you two are going public," he continued, all awkwardness vanished. "Maybe there'll others back home that, ya know, come out of the closet."

My eyes were probably bugging out of their sockets.

"Guys, what's wrong?" he half-laughed. "Did I say something weird?"

Jacob stuttered before saying:

"No, um, nah, man," he said, about as appalled as I was. "It's just that you... you say that like you are..."

It was as much of a question as it was a statement.

Brady laughed a bit, leaning over a little.

"Nah, I'm not," he laughed. "I'm just really pro-gay rights, I guess you could say."

I smiled, chuckling a little.

"Really?" I said, turning to Jacob with a look like 'I told you they don't all hate us', which was really backwards, because I had been certain they all didn't like the whole "Seth+Jacob" thing.

"Yeah," Brady said. "Paul hates me for it. I bet he's in denial. Just wait: in a few months he'll be dead."

"Huh?" Jacob and I said in perfect unison.

"Um, why?" I said, trying not to laugh.

"Rachel will probably kill him," Brady laughed a little more. "He'll come out of the closet, and she'll rip his... you-know-whats off."

Jacob and I both broke into laughter so big you couldn't contain it if you tried. When our fit of laughter was over, we could talk again.

"Nah, man," Jacob said. "We would know by know if he was; ya know, the whole 'pack mind' thing."

Brady nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess so," Brady said. "Well, Sethie here managed to hid it from us for like two whole months."

"Oh, right," I said.

That pretty much ended the conversation, mostly because it was starting to get dark.

"We need to be watching for the signal," Jacob said, authority ringing in his deep voice. Ooooh, chills.

"What do we look for?" I asked, as our three pairs of eyes scanned the horizon and the surrounding areas.

"Our signal will be close-by," Jacob answered. "Well, close for a mythical creature."

"Wait," Brady said. "_Our_ signal?"

"Yeah," Jacob replied. "There will be six signals. One for each of our groups, and then one for the main attacking group."

"Why aren't you with the attack group?" I asked, even though I couldn't stand the thought of him going away. "You're the biggest of us, and the strongest. Why aren't you at our front ranks?"

He eyed me with endearing suspicion.

"Could you really stand to be away from me?" he said, soothing my tense muscles with his voice.

Then our ears heard it.

Our heads shot to the source of the sound. There was a deafening "BOOM!" followed by a sharp cracking noise. Off in the distance, we saw a flare shoot up into the darkening western sky, headed by a blinding blue ball of light, and tailed by a long train of swirled blue-green smoke. Then I realized it wasn't a flare, but a firework.

The missile exploded into a fan of sparks- no, not a fan: a bird! It almost seemed to fly, it's majestic blue beak pointing towards something at the edge of the beach: a dock.

"The dock!" Brady shouted, and we all three shot to our feet, startling some gulls that had wandering near us.

Then we were running, straight for the dock.

"There's nothing there!" I yelled, as adrenaline shot through my veins. There was nothing there at all, no boats, no magical vampire submarine- nothing!

"Under the dock!" Jacob shouted back, his eyes alight as adrenaline coursed in him as well.

And then we were on the dock, our feet making thud-noises on the red-brown wood. With a huge splash, Jacob and I were in the water, with Brady half a second later.

I held my breath as good I could. Thank God for werewolf lungs.

Jacob motioned through the dark waters towards the open ocean. There, waiting for us, was the biggest irony I ever saw.

There it was, the magical vampire submarine I had imagined a few seconds ago. It was amazingly huge, and it was metal and glass, probably absolutely impenetrable. It was about four football fields away, and it was lower than us, but we could see it perfectly.

Jacob shot through the water, with Brady to his right. I followed after, kicking my feet as hard as I could as I blinked through the familiar feeling of salt water.

Out of the corner of my wide hyper sensitive eyes, I could see other members of our pack, far away, but all headed towards the same objective. And air, I could only hope.

We swam with all our might, and neared our safe haven, our way to get to our true objective.

I stopped counting the time after 30 seconds, knowing that holding my breath would only get harder from here. I never stopped following my Jacob, and Brady, and we finally arrived at the submarine. It was not a normal submarine, more like a huge underwater metal blimp than anything. We neatly dodged the almost motionless propellers and made our way to the huge glowing area that was obviously our entrance.

We made it there second, Collin and Ricky getting there first. The others were there within ten seconds too, and I could feel my lungs threatening to explode. Suddenly there was a rush of water and the glass wall between us and the room beyond opened suddenly, and we were all sucked into the now water filled compartment.

Then the glass was closed, and the water was draining from the room. When my head broke the water, I was gasping for the air, and other gasps for air erupted all around me as my pack and my Jacob broke the surface, all of our lungs longing for oxygen.

The water was gone within seconds, and a door opened.

Alice was standing there, and she closed the door behind her.

"Everyone hold still," she commanded when a heart-stopping gust of warm air blew through the area, and we dried in seconds. "Follow me."

She sounded like the war-ready lieutenant of the submarine rather than the pixie-like girl she had been only two days ago. Alice ripped open the door again, and half-ran through it. We all followed suit, running through the hallways. I could feel the surface beneath me shift as the submarine glided into motion again.

"We don't have much time," Alice sang as we entered a huge control room, with wires and buttons and levers sticking out all around us. Also in the room sat the ever-lovely Rosalie, Tanya, Benjamin, Randall, Garrett, and Kachiri. Rosalie and Garrett were at the controls, and Rose was communicating to someone through a tiny silver cell phone. I could tell it was Carlisle. "The others are all swimming. We'll be able to see them through these windows in a few seconds."

"How long before we get there?" Jacob asked.

"About twenty minutes," Rosalie said, and I could tell that this annoyed her immensely.

Jared gasped behind me.

"I have an idea!" he said. Then he spun towards Benjamin. "You can control water, right?"

"Yes," Benjamin said, realization dripping into his voice.

"If you can control the water around the ship," Jared said, his eyes alight.

Then I knew what he was suggesting.

"We can get there in no time!" Benjamin finished Jared's sentence. "But I've never tried something so immense. I might crush the ship."

"Come on, we have to give it a shot!" Alice said. I could tell the speed at which we were going was bugging her too. It lessened the time we might not already have.

Benjamin pursed his lips and motioned for us to give him some room. We took quick steps back, moving as one. Benjamin's eyes shut tight, and his muscular white arms stretched to his sides, his fingers clenching. Then he suddenly thrust his hands forward in one fluid movement.

I felt the ship lurch forward beneath our feet, and I clutched at Jacob for support. The ship jerked again when Benjamin forced one hand forward as if he was pushing something heavy forward. Then we were moving very quickly. Alice's face exploded into an exultant smile.

"Yes!" Garret yelled, punching one fist into the air. "Bring on some Italian vampire scum!"

The trip in the submarine went by so fast, I almost didn't have time to take in what the hell was going on. Everyone on this ship was the majority of the first group, which was going to take Sulpicia's Island, the smaller watch tower island that flanked Isla Didyme. The rest of our group consisted of the Seattle coven. Bella, Jasper, and Kate were with Jane, and they were locked in a deep cell at the very center of the submarine. They were going to take her to Isla Didyme and throw her in Josh's cell once he was liberated from it.

After we got through taking the two islands down, we would split up into groups of four, and would charge the Citadel of Didyme, where the leaders would be, and Josh with them. Part of me was itching to rip Caius's damn head from his shoulders, and if I went down in the process, I was sure as hell not going alone: I'd bring Caius with me.

Alec, Hallie, Demetri, Renata, Felicia, Kereana, Elijah, and Afton were our main targets; they were the most deadly. The leaders were our next targets, and if we could take out the rest of them, then victory would be in our hands, and soon.

"We're here!" Alice said, as we all stood in a room just above the control room. The wall that led the exterior of the ship seemed to be some kind of drawbridge, ready to connect us to the island. "Bella, get ready."

Behind us, Bella nodded, as Kate and Jasper held Jane in a vice grip. The three of them were to take Jane through the water to the citadel, and await us there.

A rush of air told us to get ready. Adrenaline coursed through me and my breath came raggedly and painfully. The warmth of beginning to phase rushed through my veins as I started to let it take over my body. The door opened and the white beach before us was revealed. Jacob, at my side, held me tighter.

"I won't let you go," he whispered. For half a second, I calmed down, ready for battle. But then he kissed me. His warm lips pressed tensely against mine. Tears welled in my eyes as I realized that this could be the last time we would ever kiss.

"If something happens to me," I whispered back into his lips. "Then I'll make you let go."

And then we were wolves.

And then we were running.

And then I was ready.

Taking out the tower was easier than any of us had expected. And it was the most amazing experience I had been through since fighting Riley and Victoria, or when I first kissed Jacob. Ten of their guards against twenty-five of ours. And we didn't lose _anyone_!!!

Sam, Warren, Jennie, and I had taken Chelsea out first, as Alice and Garrett ripped Afton to bits. Bella managed somehow to pull her shield perfectly around all of us for most of the time, as she held Jane still, and Jane was threatened with being shocked by Kate if she spoke; Jasper fought to keep her calm through the entire fight. Only once did Bella slip up, and five of us had been frozen in desensitization by Kereana's formidable gift. But Jacob, Rose, Iliana, and Ricky managed to get her before she saw them, and her ashes were spewing purple smoke into the air before we had time to blink. Benjamin used the wind to blow the smoke just the right way so that it would not be visible from the other islands, not even to vampire eyes. Santiago, Trenton, Heidi, and Corin were there also, as well as three enemies that we had no name for. They were all destroyed within ten minutes, as Benjamin flitted around, setting fire to their ashes, and then setting them out with water whenever they were good and dead.

Injuries were there though. Garrett's arm had been torn off, but it was soon replaced. Iliana's shoulder had been cut by one of Kereana's claws when she spun around. Everyone was bruised and battered, but the wolves healed within minutes, and the vampires simply found their other parts and replaced them without problem. The vampire's clothes were tattered for the most part. But best of all, we were safe, at least for a moment. My Jacob was safe.

We were all standing around the last set of burning ashes when Benjamin doused the flames. He forced the smoke to blew horizontally into the trees surrounding the colossal metal towers before Kate shouted in exultation.

"Yes!" she yelled quietly, and a chorus of hushed celebration resounded throughout our group of glorious immortals and humongous wolves. We had to be extra careful, just in case there were others.

"Ten down," Garrett said.

"Forty to go," Bella finished.

The wolves panted, each one of the smiling, or grimacing in slight pain as our injuries healed. My paws were scraped up, and my underside was in pain, but I was healing quickly.

"Yeah, forty you'll never get to!" Jane muttered loud enough that we could all hear.

"We already have," Alice chimed, her voice smug as she sneered at Jane. "Some of them, at least."

Then her cell phone was at her ear.

We all got a quick replay of the fight on Athenodora's Island. There had been ten of the guards there: Felix, Felicia, Rory, and more unknowns. Apparently we had caught the more boring end of things here. Without Bella, they had a little more trouble there. Rory, a guard member with the ability to fly, caused a lot of pain, but she was taken out fast. Felicia, the guard member with weather control powers, had summoned lightning against the group there. They had finished earlier than we had, since they had gotten there before we started here. The fight had been fast, but difficult. Many had lost limbs, and there was a bit of humor in it: Edward had gotten his arm mixed up in one of the piles ready to be burned, but he got it back before the fire was started. Everyone retrieved their limbs, but there was another twist in the battle.

Felix, the Volturi member that reminded me greatly of Emmett and was very friendly towards Bella, had escaped. He made it to Isla Didyme before they had time to react.

That raised the stakes a little, and meant we had to be fast and exact in getting the main island.

"Ten more down," Randall said, his voice low.

It was Jennie who answered.

"Thirty more to go."

* * *

~-~FINAL LIFELINE~-~


	15. Smoke

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing used in this story; all rights go to Stephenie Meyer, Summit Entertainment, and Little Brown & Co.**

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

Breaking the Habit, by Linkin Park

-OR-

Apocalypse Please, by Muse

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

Seth's Story

* * *

15. SMOKE

Seventeen wolves and fourteen vampires stood in a circle for twenty seconds. Planning was getting easier and becoming a faster thing than it had been before. Jacob phased to human form for those twenty seconds to communicate with Alice and the rest, making sure that we were all on the same page.

After those twenty seconds of pure planning and last-minute preparation, we were running again. Jacob phased back and we all knew the plan instantly. Alice was on the phone with Carlisle again, and the other group was headed for the water between Athenodora's Island and Isla Didyme, while we were headed towards the water that separated Sulpicia's Island from Isla Didyme. According to Edward, the main Volturi fighters were on the main island: Alec, Demetri, Oberon, Elijah, Renata, Felix, Hallie, along with the leaders, Aro and Caius, and the wives. Then there were all the unknowns. Well, unknown to me, at least.

My mind was buzzing with excitement. Nineteen Volturi had already fallen, and none of our number had been lost yet! It seemed so impossible, so unbelievable! I had been so braced for loss, for my own loss, for my family's loss.

But, then again, there was a larger battle just ahead. This had only been the pre-game show. The real battle was still to be won.

_Stop worrying and focus, Seth!_ Leah's mind said. _We're almost to the crossing point!_

I tried to stop worrying as we neared the place where we would be able to cross easily and undetected. The "undetected" part was probably not true though. Part of my mind was screaming to me that there would be Volturi soldiers waiting for us on the other side of the water... maybe even in the water.

Then we were there. All twenty-five of us stopped at the edge of the water. There wasn't much of a distance between us and the other island, but now we could really tell the size of the main island.

It was so unlike what I had expected. I had almost been stupid enough to expect a tiny little tropical island covered in Volturi soldiers. I had been way wrong.

Only one word could describe the monumental island that stood resolute before us today.

Huge.

_Holy crap, _Embry said.

_When they said big island, they weren't joking!_ Collin said, shaking his head.

Our vampire comrades seemed unperturbed by the size of the island, and instead began to walk into the water, quickly, and silently. The distance between the islands was small, only about one hundred feet, and it was only about three feet deep the whole way around.

The vampires that stayed behind were Bella, Kate, and Jasper, who were all holding on to Jane.

"What do we do with this witch?" Bella asked Alice, who was closer to the shore than the others, holding the tiny silver cell phone high above the water. The other vampires that were in the water stopped and crouched down in the water, waiting.

Alice spun round suddenly, her eyes seeming to turn black.

"Bella!!!" she screamed. "WATCH OUT!!!"

And then we saw them.

The hair on the wolves backs stood up straight as three dark gray clad Volturi soldiers drifted gracefully out of the forest.

I recognized one of them immediately. I had seen him once before. And now, as he drifted forward to kill us, his angelic face morphed into a smile.

"Jane," Alec said gently, his arms stretched to the side, as if inviting us to kill him. "I can't even begin to tell you how good it is to see you again."

His hair was a darker than Jane's, and he was slightly taller, but he was just as lethal. Behind him stood two Volturi I didn't recognize.

"Stay back, Alec," Benjamin warned, instantly at Bella's side, as well as the rest of our twenty-five. There was a sudden burst of light, and it appeared that Benjamin's hands were on fire. "Or you'll burn where you stand."

Alec laughed. The laughter that rippled from his throat was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. But the menace in it was hard to miss.

"You really don't want to do that, Benjamin of Egypt," he chimed when his laugh drew near an end. "I'm only here for my sister."

Bella laughed too, but her laugh was filled with hate.

"Come and get her," she cackled.

Jane spoke then, for the first time in a while.

"My dear brother," she said, as calm as she could ever be. I could tell she had practiced it. "It's been too long."

"Yes, Jane," he crooned, a smile of menace distorting his angelic features. "I suppose these barbarians treated you well? Or is that too much to expect?"

Jacob, who was only ten feet away from him, snarled down at him.

Alec rolled his eyes.

"This hostility is more than unnecessary, I can assure you," Alec said, the smile returning to his angelic features. "Just let my sister go. We're going to have to kill you soon anyway, so we might as well wait till the real show begins."

His voice was mimicking almost exactly what I had been thinking before.

This was all just the pre-show.

Bella's ocher eyes bore down Alec's violently red ones.

"We're not falling for whatever you're trying to pull," Bella said.

"Do you think us fools, witch boy?" Kachiri said in her wild voice. She was right beside Bella, with Alice on Bella's other side.

"Fools? Yes, and no," he said, shrugging off the 'witch boy' comment. The tension in our group became even more dominant as Alec explained. "No, because we hold you in too much high respect to think of you as fools. Except for the wolves." The wolves growled. "Yes, because you obviously think you can defeat us."

Jasper snarled again.

"We already took down twenty of you," he said through bared teeth.

Alec seemed to be entirely undisturbed by that. I was instantly confused. There were only fifty-something of them. We had taken so many out already!

"Not bad," he said, with a 'like it really matters' look masking his face. "But believe me: this war has barely even begun."

Ripples flowed through the pack mind, which had (up to this point) been simply contemplating what Alec and the others were saying.

_Okay, I know there are still a lot of them left, but what does that mean?_

_We should just kill him now and get it over with._

_Something worse is on that bigger island, I can just feel it!_

Then Alec was speaking again.

"So I'll take my sister, and see you again soon, I hope," he said. I could tell he really did hope to see us again soon. So he could rip us to bits and burn us. Of course. Why else?

There was hesitation. I knew that we had no use for her. She had been simply our way of knowing what the Volturi planned. Did we need her anymore?

No, of course we didn't. But would we stand a chance against her in the battle? The _real_ battle?

But I couldn't really say anything. The whole wolf thing screwed that up.

And then Jane was out of Jasper, Kate, and Bella's hands. (But not before Kate shocked her one more time; Jane yelped at that.) The tiny pale brown haired vampire ran to her brother, standing by his side, and then glaring back at us. Specifically at Bella.

I heard Alec laugh once, and then they were gone. They made a circle to get away from us and I barely registered the blur they created across the horizon as they ran at high speed across the water to the main island.

"We have to go, now!" Alice shouted.

We all spun around. Every one of us, wolf or vampire, shot across the water like a swarm of bats ascending from the depths of Hell, and reached the opposing shore within five seconds.

"Which way?" Jasper asked Alice.

"Just follow me," she said, to all of us.

Alice darted from the beach and into the trees.

* * *

_Is there really much point to waiting?_ Leah was thinking.

_I don't know,_ Jacob said. _Carlisle said it was absolutely important._

_I'm not sure how much more I can take of the leeches using important as their word for when they have to pee,_ Michael replied.

A few of us barked a laugh.

"Very funny," Edward said. He had been listening to the thought-conversation. "We don't pee, anyway."

_What's so important that we need to wait?_ Jared asked, impatient.

_Yeah!_ Collin complained. _They could, like, jump us or something!_

Edward laughed, his voice filling the beach where we stood.

"Let's just say our numbers have gone up again."

There was half a moment of shock as my spirits suddenly sky-rocketed. More people to help! Less of a chance that we could lose!

"They're back."

The hackles on the back of my neck stood up as the sharp scent of vampire suddenly hit me like a cannonball. We all spun toward the source, and my wolf eyes widened, doubling in size.

In front of us now stood a horde of vampires beyond anything I had ever seen, even beyond what I had witnessed in the meadow last winter!

There were exactly forty-three (I counted) vampires and two vampire hybrids! I recognized the newcomers quickly. Stefan and Vladimir, the Romanian vampires; Alistair, the one that bailed on us last time; Maggie, Siobhan, and Liam, our friends from Ireland; Amun and Kebi, the other two Egyptian vampires; and then there was one that I didn't recognize, but he looked like Dracula, in the flesh.

Carlisle was shaking hands with Amun.

"My friend, Amun," Carlisle said, greeting him as if nothing had transpired between them last winter, where Amun had considered fighting against us; I almost growled at the memory. "How good it is to see you again. And Kebi, the same."

"Yes, friend," was Amun's reply. His olive toned face looked almost repentent. "It has been too long. We should have come with our Benjamin, but we were too afraid. I know that I was wrong. I see now that the Volturi have overstepped their authority. We must fight with you."

"Thank you so much, my old friend," Carlisle thanked him, grasping his hand with both of his.

Carlisle now turned to Alistair, who looked deeply grieved.

"Carlisle," Alistair began. "I must ask your forgiveness for leaving you to die last winter." He seemed to flinch away from the memory, as if it pained him. "I was afraid. Now I realize that I must either die alone, or die with you. I choose to die a patriot, not a coward."

Jasper clapped him on the back in a sign of comradeship as Alistair's hand slammed into Carlisle's hand in an iron clad handshake. Then Carlisle pulled him into a quick embrace before he swiveled to greet Siobhan's clan.

"Dear Carlisle," Maggie sang, bouncing forward to hug his side. "How wonderful it is to see you again."

"Yes, indeed," Siobhan said, smiling. She was just as tall as the Amazonians, and her muscles were visible through her clothing. "On the eve of battle, we come to aid you. If you will forgive the theatrics, of course."

"Theatrics are acceptable," Carlisle said, kissing her hand. "I am- We are eternally grateful for your arrival. The battle ahead looks grim. We cannot expect to come out unscathed, if we get back alive at all."

The entire group seemed to cringe.

Stefan and Vladimir, the two Romanian vampires, were at Carlisle's side in a nanosecond. The one whose name I did not know lingered behind them, as if he was a companion of theres.

"Friend Carlisle," Stefan said.

"Finally we may get the battle we have thirsted so many years for," Vladimir said, grinning.

"And this world may finally be rid of the Volturi forever," Stefan finished, his eyes seeming to glow a brighter red with the idea.

"And Tyler," he called to the one I did not know. "Or Ty, is it now? How gracious it is of you to come to our aid. It has been centuries, my very, _very_, old friend."

"Yes," Ty said, gliding forward to take Carlisle's hand. "It has been too long. I must visit you soon, of course. If we get out of this, that is."

I could've sworn that the entire army flinched away from these words like before, just before Ty vanished into the crowd.

There were less than two seconds of silence before Alice suddenly gasped, her eyes hazing over as the future clouded her mind. Edward gasped in unison with Alice, his breath cutting short.

"Everyone listen," he said, speaking to the entire army. Every eye shot towards him, anticipation tangible within our ranks. "The Volturi know we're here, of course. But this news is the worst of all."

I didn't breathe, afraid that I'd fall over dead with morbid anticipation.

"The Volturi guard we killed on the two islands..." he began. He paused, pressing his fingers to his head in frustration. "They weren't real."

"What?" Carlisle said, his voice filled with horror.

Ripples of anger and fear tingled and stabbed through our pack mind, and anxiety filled me like acid, burning away at the walls of my veins.

_Oh, shit._

_God damn it!_

_No! No, no, no, no no no no!_

"What the hell do you mean, Edward?" Bella said, her voice filled with panic.

"Clones," Edward and Alice said in unison. It was impossible not to notice that Edward was trying to remain coherent. "They were clones!"

Every single body seemed to droop. We had just fought for our lives! We were so ready for a battle that wouldn't be as bad as we had anticipated! Not only that, but _I_ had been ready!

"What?" Carmen said, her voice confused. "Clones? How could this happen?"

"One of the newborns we didn't know about," Alice explained, shaking her head. "Madylyn. She could change into anyone, and make clones of herself. The clones could change into whoever they wanted. The perfect illusion."

"What about Felix?" Rosalie said, trying to keep her voice even.

"That was really Madylyn," Edward replied. "The real Felix is a little bit faster than most of us, so she, as him, escaped us easily."

Anger mixed in with the anxiety, a new scorching burn replacing the stinging.

_Whoa, Seth, cool it! We can still win this! _Brady tried to console me.

_What in the hell do you think is going on, Brady?! _Someone said. I was shocked to know that this voice was none other than mine, my voice. Somehow, I kept shouting. _We're going to die! We don't stand a God damn chance!!!_

Brady shrunk away from me, both mentally and physically, a sad moan escaping his body.

I felt instantly horrible. What kind of monster was this war turning me into? Was it so bad that I could really yell at my brother like that? My heart ached again, an echo of the fault lines that had torn it apart. Brady didn't deserve my anger. And I didn't deserve such a good friend like him.

I didn't even get the chance to apologize.

Only moments after my tirade, Edward was speaking again.

"They're all still alive," he said, his voice still horrorstruck.

"All thirty-seven of them," Alice finished, her voice turning into a moan. "Not even counting the clones."

"How many of us are there?" Eleazar asked lightly.

The vampires had no problem with math.

"Fifty-nine," Carlisle announced in exultation, and the sudden change in mood among us was so great that it was like dawn breaking on the horizon.

"Hell, yes!" Emmett hollered.

"What are we waiting for?" Benjamin crowed. "Let's go kick some Volturi-"

But Alice cut him off.

"You still think we can win?" she groaned, and I was sure she would be crying if she could.

"Well, why not?" Jasper asked, his eyebrows pushing together. "I highly doubt this Madylyn could get her illusion past Bella's shield. As long as we're inside it, they don't exist, and can't hurt us."

"Yes!" Esme sang, clapping her hands together.

"You're right, Jazz," Alice said, her tone lightening the tiniest bit.

"Jennie," Edward said, motioning towards the blonde Seattle coven teenage vampire.

I was instantly confused.

"How strong is your power, Jennie?" he asked, his voice desperate.

Jennie pursed her lips together, and rubbed her arm. She looked slightly embarrassed. I tried to remember what Alice had said about her ability to me on the way back from Port Angeles, but the memory escaped me.

"Its, well," she stammered. "Its not like you think, I can assure you that. I struggle with it. Moving boulders, levitate plates... that's as far as I've tested it, really."

I had realized by then that Alice hadn't told me about their powers, because none of this was familiar.

"Jennie has a power similar to a power one of Caius's newborns posesses," Edward explained to us all. "She has telekinesis, and can move things with her mind."

"Which one of them?" Carlisle asked.

"Oberon," Edward said, spitting the name. "Caius's new best friend."

"What does his ability do better than Jennie's, exactly?" Barron, the one holding Jennie's hand, said, his voice wary.

"His control is complete," Edward said, his voice full of pain, the pain Alice was seeing in the future now. This news sent shockwaves through the army as we realized what this meant. I had to lean against Jacob's warm russet fur to keep from falling over. "Oberon can move anything, anywhere. He will be their lead man in the battle. I think Oberon will be mostly a distraction, but with his power, much of our powers are for nothing. Jennie can't beat him, Kate won't get near enough to shock him... nothing. We're doomed. Josh is doomed."

"Don't say that," a voice spat. I didn't recognize the voice at first, until I turned my gaze to the black haired boy beside Jennie. Dylan's face was twisted in pain. "Don't you _dare_ ever say that again, Edward Cullen. Don't even think it. We are _NOT_ doomed! We will _NOT_ lose! Not tonight, not any other night! There are more of us than them! Surely, five or six of us could take Oberon down! We may seem to have the underhand, but don't you _dare _say there isn't hope. And Josh..." He seemed to choke up on Josh's name, and I couldn't understand entirely why. "Josh is _not_ doomed."

Edward seemed shocked at Dylan's words. He looked almost frozen. Dylan hadn't said a word to us since we first saw him.

And suddenly, we all had hope. I imagined how it would feel to me, and to everyone else, if Oberon fell. No, _when_ he fell! If I could get to Caius, then I would be eternally happy. I couldn't wait to watch him burn.

And we all had hope.

* * *

We were moving again within minutes, plans being formed again. We reached the Bay of Broken Souls, the bay that stood between us and the Citadel of Didyme.

And then we could see.

The water stretched for about the length of three football fields. We all stood on the edge of the water, stretched across the sand, waiting for a few more seconds.

Across the vast stretch of water was a beach. The sand was absolute white. Just beyond the sand was a field: a battlefield, covered in grass. At the edge of the battlefield, beyond it, stood a wall. It was high. It looked just high enough that a vampire would have a lot of trouble trying to jump over it. I could tell that the wall was smooth so that it would be impossible to scale.

"They're waiting," Edward said, appalled. He wasn't usually taken by surprise. "They want us to make the first strike."

On top of the wall, barely visible to my eyes, stood two figures. The black that flowed out from behind them waved in the wind. My heart skipped a beat as they were joined by more black-shrouded figures.

And from the top of the wall, Jane and Alec grinned at us.

* * *

**Please, please, please forgive me for making you wait, again. My schedule just got freed up a little, so I'll be doing better! :D**

~-~FINALLIFELINE~-~


	16. Blood To Ashes

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING. AT ALL. NADA. ZILCH. ZERO. :)**

**

* * *

**I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for taking so long! I seem to be doing that a lot lately!!! I've been busy, and I'm tired all the time, but I finally pulled this chapter out of my brain!!! YAY FOR BATTLE SCENES!!!!!

* * *

~-~SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER~-~

-It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Death Wish, by My Chemical Romance-

-Hysteria, by Muse-

-w.a.m.s. by Fall Out Boy-

-Map of the Problematique, by Muse-

-Through The Fire and Flames, by DragonForce-

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

-Seth's Story-

* * *

16. BLOOD TO ASHES

* * *

"If they want us to make the first strike," Tia said, "Then maybe they should make us."

"Tia's right," Carlisle said, speaking to us all, but not taking his eyes off of the twins. "They just want us to get closer to the Citadel, where they're safer, and have a higher advantage."

"Well, we're damn well not going to do that," Stefan added, a grin growing on his face.

"They have enough advantages already," Patrick agreed, clinging to Erica as if by glue.

"Super-telekinesis, cloning, not to mention the fact that all the ones we thought we killed are still alive, and they all still have their gifts," Emmett said, angry. "The wolves are tired, and we could very well lose. They obviously don't like a fair fight."

"No," Edward said. "They most definitely do not."

_Duh,_ Brady thought. _Does anyone even remember last time?_

"What are they thinking, Edward?" Benjamin asked intensely.

Everyone's eyes went to Edward as he deciphered the minds of those just beyond the wall. His brow seemed to furrow in concentration and confusion.

"Their simply ready for battle," he said slowly. "But I don't... It's hard to understand... The real clone creator isn't going to fight, but she'll let her clones fight for her. She's in the Citadel, herself. It seems to me like something is off. Aro and Caius... I can't really hear their thoughts. It's like their being blurred, almost like they're a little too far away for me to pick up."

Then he snapped his head sharply to the right.

"That's an excellent plan! They won't have time to stop you that way, and you could take out the cloner before the real battle even begins!"

"That's why we were going to propose it, Eddy," Vladimir said, as Ty and Stefan gathered behind him. "Who do you suggest we take with us? We wouldn't want to uneven the playing field by taking the most crucial."

"Jasper, Esme, Senna, Erica, Tia, Rosalie, Liam, Marcus, and Alistair?" Edward said, quickly, calling their names and motioning them forward. "The nine of you, plus the three Romanians, will need to circle the bay and get to the Citadel to find the cloner, and you must take her out before the bulk of the real battle begins. If you can, then kill Aro and Caius. Then, the playing field will be evened out entirely!"

Edward was entirely exultant.

"Maybe it would be of benefit to have one of the wolves tag along," Bella suggested.

Brady started bouncing up and down like a squirrel on crack.

_OH MY GOD! I HAVE TO GO WITH THEM, JAKE! I WANNA HELP! PLEASE, I'LL BE SUPER CAREFUL! I PROMISE! PLEASE LET ME GO!_

He was bouncing up and down, literally. How many energy drinks had the kid had today?

"It looks like Brady wants to go," Renesmee stated, nodding her head in his direction.

_Fine! You can go, jeez!_ Jacob said.

And then Brady bounded forward to join the group of cloner-killers.

_If anything happens to him, _I thought to Jacob. _I swear to God..._

_Jesus Christ, Seth!_ Embry said, irritated. _You worry so freaking much! Take a pill._

That was kind of the end of that.

It took the group no time at all to fix up a plan, and then they were gone, shooting across the water like bullets. I barely caught a glimpse of Esme carrying Brady before I barked a laugh. Brady was having funny thoughts.

_I wouldn't have asked to go if I knew I would have to be carried_, he thought, groaning a little.

And then they disappeared, circling around the bay into the forest.

Ten seconds later, Edward gasped out loud.

"What the hell?" he managed to choke out.

"Edward?" Carlisle said, instantly at his side. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I can't hear them," Edward gasped, looking at the water as if he had seen a ghost. "It's like they don't exist at all!"

"What?"

They started chattering, angry and confused, as Jacob tried to reach Brady.

_Brady! What's going on? Brady!_

_Jeez, you're giving me a headache, Jake! Hey, that rhymes!_

_Well, at least _we_ can hear Brady, _Leah sighed.

Jacob barked at Edward, interrupting him.

"The wolves can hear Brady," he announced.

"Why can they hear him and you can't hear any of them?" the tall and wild Zafrina asked.

"I don't know," Edward replied. "It makes no sense."

But what met our ears next was like the toll of the end.

"Welcome, friends," a voice like an angel echoed from across the dark blue water. I looked to see who it was. The bright red eyes of Caius met all of our eyes. "You seem a little early, don't you think? Haven't you heard of fashionably late?"

Caius laughed from where he had appeared, right beside Alec, and inverted towards the twins. I tried not to snarl at his laugh.

Edward snarled, but not at the laugh.

"What?" Carlisle asked, not happy about Edward's frequent groaning.

"I can't hear Caius either," he growled. "It's so confusing! I can't tell why at all! It's like _none of them_ know what's going on there!"

"It's such a shame that you will all have to die tonight," Caius continued, still clear as a bell as a sudden explosion of thunder shook the air. A red-headed female that I recognized as Felicia now stood beside Caius.

_I thought we killed her!_ Jared said.

_We killed the clone of her, _Sam corrected.

Raindrops started to fall then. They were cold, colder than any rain that I had ever experienced back in Washington. I doubted Florida got as much rain as we were about to get.

"Ah, the rain," Caius said, maintaining a friendly demeanor. "You will have met my friend Felicia by now, I suppose? Or a clone of her, I suppose." He laughed again. "Of course, that doesn't surprise you. You really don't have any idea what I have up my sleeves for tonight, my friends. Especially not you, mind-reader."

His fiery glare seemed to burn a hole through Edward's control. Edward growled so loud it was almost a scream and tried to lurch across the large stretch of water. Carlisle held him back, and said, "Wait. Not yet."

Caius didn't laugh this time. Maybe he was hoping that would have provoked Edward to attack first. I wondered what else he had up his sleeves.

"This won't be any fun if someone doesn't attack first," he said, frowning now. "I was hoping you would-"

He was interrupted by a scream so loud that I could've sworn that God in Heaven had to cover his ears. Caius spun round, along with the others beside him. Then he spun towards us, horror on his face. Edward smirked up at him with such irony that it was like a death wish.

The team had reached the Citadel! And they were winning!

Dawn broke across Caius's face.

"Kill them!"

Caius's finger pointed at us, and Alec and Jane were instantly in action. Caius disappeared behind the twins. Adrenaline spread like electricity through my veins as the witch twins lurched from the wall and onto the beach.

Our vampires were across the water in seconds. I was shocked to feel cold, stony hands on my fur as I was carried instantly across the water. When we reached the beach on the other side, hell broke loose.

I barely had time to register who our opponents were before we flew into action. Felicia, Jane, Alec, Demetri, Heidi, Kereana- too many to name in my state of mind.

The ground beneath my feet felt like ice as I lurched for Jane- I wanted to be the one that killed her. I felt some kind of electric energy surge through my veins as I slashed at her, and I thought hopelessly that she was using her power on me, but that wasn't it. It wasn't pain, it was like power! I slashed at her arm, knocking it out of the way far enough for me to lock my teeth around her torso. I took a chunk of her side off as the sounds of battle exploded around me. I heard screams, some kind of metal scraping together, and howling like mad.

I spit Jane's hard, venom-filled flesh from my mouth, hoping Benjamin would be fast enough to burn it before Jane would have time to put it back on.

Jane shrieked and swung for my leg, and I dodged just in time- right before Alice appeared from nowhere, knocking Jane down, right before she tore Jane's left hand off.

I stepped back in shock as Jane threw Alice off of her, and Alice landed perfectly a few feet away.

I sharp pain erupted from my front right paw from a blow I hadn't seen, and then I was flying! I collided with the huge wall, and slid down limply. I got up within seconds, and analyzed the situation. I was far away from the battle. I could only make out Bella, who was moving in a strange way that I hadn't seen before.

It took me too long to realize what she was doing. The reason Jane hadn't been able to paralyze me with pain was because Bella had learned a new way to control her shield! She was using it to protect individual people!

I found Alice and Jane again, who seemed to be locked in a dance of death at the very edge of the battlefield. I ran as fast as the speed of sound back to where I had been, and Jane barely had time to feel it as I locked my teeth around one of her legs

She screamed like a demon as I ripped her leg off at the knees, and venom dripped from the stub that remained. Jane fell down. She was in immense pain, and she was dying. I let no pity enter my heart as I spat her leg from my mouth and growled as I stepped towards her.

"No!" she screamed. "Please! Don't!"

Then Alice grabbed the soon-to-be-dead girl and threw her towards the wall.

"Seth, go!" Alice yelled to me when I tried to follow her to Jane. "This is for me to handle!" Then she yelled to the battle. "Edward, help!!!"

I obeyed, trying to gather my rusted thoughts.

I ran towards Jacob, who was fighting Heidi in the middle of the battle, with Benjamin at his side. I got there just in time for my right paw to knock Heidi away from Benjamin. I barely missed Benjamin's wave of fire before it collided with Heidi. Her gorgeous hair disappeared from her head in seconds as screams burst from her throat and echoed across the battlefield.

I tried not to look as Jacob tore her apart and Benjamin burned her. Purple, solid-looking smoke erupted all around us. Benjamin used that to our advantage. A sudden burst of wind erupted all around us, sending chills down my spine as smoke appeared all around us.

Jumping out of the smoke, I back-flipped into another battle, where I could tell that my friend was losing. Jennie almost got killed seconds before I locked my teeth around Demetri's head, ripping it from his shoulders. At the same time, Patrick's jaws snapped one of Demetri's legs off. We threw him towards the edge of the battlefield as he tried to piece himself together.

Jennie pulled a power-lighter from her pocket, and Demetri's remains erupted into flame and smoke, filling the rain-broken sky with the violet-black again.

I jumped back from the fire as Demetri's ashes spat more smoke, and I knocked right into a cold back. I almost whipped around and whacked the head off of the one behind me, but it was Carlisle.

Carlisle ducked a blow from a Volturi I didn't know and yelled:

"Seth! Alice needs your help!"

Thats when I heard Alec.

"Get the hell away from my sister!"

I turned just in time to see Alec pick Alice up by the collar, and then I was behind him. I roared with all the lungs I that I had, and I could've sworn that his hair stood on end as he spun around towards me. I reeled back on my hind legs, and both of my paws collided with his face.

Then I started seeing double.

Alec fell to the ground, but somehow, his foot collided with my back.

"Seth! His clone!" Alice yelled as she lunged for the real Alec.

I wheeled backwards only to be face to face with Alec's clone. I shrieked in terror as his lightning-fast hands reached for me. There was no time to react before he spun me around and slammed my body against the tall metal wall.

_CRACK!_

I felt the reverb of my pain in all of my pack family's minds as my ribs cracked under the Alec-clone's hands. A howl of pain and of terror tore from my lips.

The clone disappeared when a tiny black-haired form crashed into his side. I slid to the ground, which was farther down then it should have been. The Alec-clone's scream was cut off by a metallic screeching as I attempted bravely to stand to my paws.

"Ben!" Alice yelled right before I stood up.

Benjamin was over to us in seconds, and he lit the clone's remains on fire quickly.

"Alec's down," he said.

"No, it was Alec's clone," Alice corrected putting the other parts of the clone in the fire.

"Where did the real Alec go then?" he asked as the smoke filled the air around us.

Alice spun to where the twins had been, but Jane and Alec were both gone. Not even Jane's destroyed body parts remained. Both of the vampire's heads jerked up in synchronization towards the wall.

"Benjamin," Alice said. "We're going up."

"On it," he replied.

I didn't comprehend the meaning of anything they had just said until a sudden crack resounded around us.

Then we were lifted into the air, with the ground still under us: Benjamin was lifting us to the top of the wall on a slab of rock!

A sudden tug almost made us crash into the wall.

"Ben!" Alice yelled. "Be careful!"

"It wasn't me, I swear!" he yelled back, spinning round agilely to see the reason of the stop.

His glare was greeted by another, more forceful tug. I looked down to see an olive-skinned man with auburn hair with his hand pointed towards us. Another tug almost brought us down again.

"It's Oberon!" Alice yelled. "Stop him!"

Then huge shards of rock shot up from all around Oberon, confusing his focus. Oberon used his telekinesis to divert the rocks towards the battle, and tugged on the rock again.

Oberon's form suddenly shifted as he slammed into the cliff adjacent to the wall, out of his control entirely. I glanced in surprise to Jennie, who gave us a thumbs up as she pelted Oberon with rock and sand to keep him distracted.

We moved up again, quicker this time, and the whole world was brighter all of the sudden. I thought it could have been the climate change, but it was a new light.

Lightning!

The rock beneath my feet crackled, and I jumped to one side of the crack that had formed there. I whined loudly and barked as I struggled to stay on. Then the rock split in two! Both parts kept moving, somehow.

"Seth!" Alice yelled, as lightning shot up all around us.

A white hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed on to Alice's ankle.

"Alice!!!" Benjamin screamed, but the rock beneath us kept moving.

I whined again, and tried to claw at the hand, but Alice reached down and grabbed the hand.

The hand pulled back, and suddenly, an uninvited guest joined us in the air.

Felicia was flying in the wind, her vivid red hair flying around her like a whirlwind. Her eyes were filled with hate. I growled when her lips pulled back into a guttural snarl of her own. I yelled internally when lightning formed at her fingertips.

A burst of sudden red separated the weather-controller from us. She screamed as fire erupted from Benjamin's hands for the millionth time. The fire wrapped itself around us, a result of Benjamin's circular arm movements. Through the flames, I knew that I could see Felicia's charred and broken form fall to the ground.

Ben didn't let the fire dissipate until we were at the top.

The two vampires lithely bounced from the rock onto the plateau that stood before us. I staggered to them, but I spun to see what was going on below.

The battle was immense. The smoke didn't make it too difficult to see the action on the battlefield, but it was still thick. I could barely make out Jennie still duking it out with Oberon, and it seemed that Edward and Zafrina had joined her. All of my wolf family, including my Jacob, were in the center of the battle, and chunks of vampire were being spewed everywhere. I couldn't tell who we had lost, or who they had lost, but death was everywhere.

None of my family was dead yet, none of my pack. I would've felt it, I would've experienced their death with them.

"Look," Alice said, in awe.

I turned groggily towards where she was looking.

If I was human, I would have gasped, but it was more like a pant in wolf form.

What met my eyes was a battlefield. There had obviously been a battle here as well. I knew some of the bodies, but they were all the bad ones. I couldn't see any of my friends or family here. But the bodies of my enemies were burning, and it nauseated me that I could still recognize the faces. Corin, Santiago, Hallie, Kereana...

About 100 feet away from us, the battlefield stopped. A strange building stood where the ravaged Volturi bodies did not lay: the Citadel of Didyme. It was only one story, but was massive, sort of like the old Asian huts in all the kung-fu movies. The marble statue of a woman stood on a pedestal, and I guessed that it was Didyme, sister of Aro and wife of Marcus. One of her hands was missing, as if it had been knocked off during the battle. I could guess that it had gotten mistaken for a body part and been burned with the bodies.

But where was the team that was sent here? Had they achieved their objective? Or had something far worse been waiting inside the Citadel?

I walked forward for a reason that barely registered into my head.

I could hear Brady. Of course, I could hear Brady. Why couldn't I?

But this wasn't like the mind-sharing I had been accustomed to.

Brady was nearby. Brady was inside the Citadel.

"Wait," said a familiar voice that I instantly recognized as Edward. The voice was accompanied by a strange rush of wind. Jennie, Tanya, and Edward both leaped onto the battlefield with us when I stopped walking.

"There was a great battle here, as well," the strawberry-blonde Tanya said, sorrow filling her. It was obvious that she didn't relish the thought of killing another of their kind.

"I wish I knew the entire outcome," Edward said, his eyebrows pushing together. "I still can't hear anyone."

I started walking again, and this time they didn't stop me. In fact, they walked with me, cautious, and afraid. Brady's voice was somewhere just beyond the walls of the building, and I had to be certain that my pack brother was safe.

I crossed a line of green jade stone that seemed to separate the Citadel from the past battle's results.

Then a scream escaped my lips.

Pain ripped through my veins. It felt like I was being sliced open over and over. It was like I had swalled razor blades, and they were ripping me to bits right now.

And then I was human, and my ribs were aching.

The vampires gasped.

"What just happened?" Benjamin asked, in awe.

I exhaled suddenly, and stood to my feet. The vampires politely averted their eyes as I pulled the clothes on my leg onto the rest of my body. My ribs were sore from when Alec's clone had crushed them, although they had healed by then.

"What was that?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"I don't know," Edward said, his face contorted in horror. "It's as if there's an enchantment on the Citadel..."

He reached out and brushed his hand against the air. His hand seemed to sparkle, although there was no sun to cause it. I realized that it was the air that glistened. The jade was glowing, I saw now, and it seemed to be some kind of shield.

"It's a shield," Alice said, perplexed. "None of our powers will work in there, not even the werewolves ability."

"This is the reason I couldn't hear the others when they got here, or Aro and Caius," Edward realized out loud.

"Damn it," Benjamin cursed under his breath. "Mine won't work either. I'm practically defenseless without my power. Should I stay out here to keep watch?"

Edward paused in thought.

"Just come with us," he said finally. "We're stronger as a group than as solitary fighters."

Benjamin bit his lip and nodded.

They each crossed the line, but none of them seemed to experience the pain of getting their abilities taken away like I had.

"I _am_ defenseless," I said, feeling weaker than I ever had, and also a little shaky. "Is it safe for me to go in there?"

"Brady might need someone he trusts to help him," Edward said, even though he must have realized the danger I would be in.

Then I had a thought. If no one has any powers in the Citadel, wolves included, then how could I hear Brady's mind? He wouldn't be a wolf, of course. But what if it wasn't Brady that I had heard? I shivered.

Edward and the others walked slowly forward, wary of everything around them.

Then we reached an open door. Well, it wasn't open, but broken in. The shards of the door were splintered everywhere.

I looked up from the shards.

What we saw turned my heart to stone, my breath to vapor, my spirit to acid, my mind to ice, and my blood to ashes.

Three vampires stood ten feet beyond the entryway. A woman with flaming red hair, wild-looking and angry. A female with straight, white-blond hair, tall and strong. And a man with black hair, average-looking and vicious. I knew the red-haired one, and the blonde one well, but the black haired one was new.

"James," Edward said, shocked, mortified, and disbelieving. I recognized the name as the vampire that had tried to kill Bella in phoenix, when she was still human... The Cullens had killed him.

Victoria, Irina, and James stood before us now, back from Hell.

"Welcome, my friends," Victoria said. "It's been too long."

And they stepped forward to kill us.

* * *

OMG FREAKING SCARY AND CONFUSING ENDING, RIGHT?!?!

Sorry, again(!) for taking so fu-reaking long to get this chapter finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~-~FinalLifeline~-~


	17. Blackout

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Stephenie Meyer does.**

* * *

Yo reader!

This chapter is NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are three more chapters left, and no matter what happens in this chapter, there WILL be a happy ending!!! The happiest ending EVER, so don't worry!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I'm sure you all remember the Prologue of this story? You do? Well, forget that it was ever written! That part of the story has been cut and the entire outcome changed. That is part of an abandoned storyline, so I will now delete it.

* * *

~Wakened Autumn~

-Seth's Story-

* * *

SONGS FOR THIS CHAPTER

London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines, by Panic! At The Disco

OR

Hysteria, by Muse

* * *

17. BLACKOUT

"Don't move," Alice threatened the three figures that my mind was telling me couldn't still exist.

"What-" Edward stammered, blinking furiously. "How- how are you alive?"

"It's rather complicated," Irina said. She was at the head of the trio, her face obviously not one of anger, nor did it resemble any face that she would present on the battlefield. Her arms were outstretched towards us, since all of us were on red alert, ready for battle.

"Seth, stay behind me," Alice murmured to me. I understood. I was human, and vulnerable. Blood was still in my human veins.

"Edward," she greeted him, smiling. "Tanya!"

Tanya's face was stuck in an expression of shock and disbelief.

"Irina?" she said, so low it was almost incoherent.

"I know," Irina said softly. "It's hard to believe."

"If you would explain," Benjamin said gruffly. "That would be nice. Besides Jennie, we were all there, we saw Caius burn you."

Tanya and Irina both flinched at this.

"Give us a minute," James said, much softer than I would have imagined. So far, his eyes hadn't left Edward's. "We can explain."

And then Irina was talking quickly.

"You've noticed that your powers don't work once you cross the Jade Line," Irina began. "That effect has been created by a vampire that is inside this citadel, in the Innermost Ring of the building."

"You will also have noticed that there are three vampires you know to be dead standing in front of you," Victoria said, grinning. "That effect has also been created by a vampire in the Innermost Ring."

I raised my eyebrows at this; I hadn't known the Cloner could do that.

"Aro already knew Victoria and I, because I aided Caius in the Werewolf Assassinations," James explained further. "He read my mind before I helped. One of the newborns had a power to show people memories of other people, so he showed the Cloner the memories and she created us right away. Technically speaking, we are our old selves, but when you kill the Cloner, then we disappear."

"What are we waiting for then?" Jennie said. "Why can't we go in there and kill them?"

"That's not such a good idea," Irina said, looking unhappy. "Aro isn't our enemy."

This took us all by shock. I had to blink a few times to understand at all.

"You're shocked," Victoria said. "But thats not the worst part. He's hypnotized."

"Hypnotized!" Alice yelled. "That's what I saw!" Edward shot Alice a confused glance. "When I was fighting Jane, I saw a glimmer of something from the back of her mind. I saw us killing Caius, and Aro helping us." She looked at me. "That's why I wouldn't let you kill Jane, Seth. She and Alec are both hypnotized, too, aren't they?" she asked the three clones.

Irina nodded.

"Yes," she replied. "Aro felt so bad about everything that happened last New Year that when Caius started plotting to get rid of all of you, Aro was angry. Caius had been planning for that, and he already had the Hypnotizer. He hypnotized Aro into going along with his schemes. Jane found out, and she and Alec exploited to the entire Volturi guard that Caius had betrayed their Master Aro. The Guard revolted against Caius, but Caius was too smart. He had already created his Newborns, so it was only too easy for him to hold them back and get the Hypnotizer to bend the Guards to his will. You're people are down there fighting the wrong people. And the right people, but mostly the wrong people."

Instantly, I felt nauseated.

"Edward, you have to get out of the circle," I half-gasped. "We have to know what's going on down there!"

The thought that my Jacob was risking his life against our hypnotized allies (or sort-of-allies).

Edward was instantly out of the Jade Circle.

"We're winning, I think," he said, excited suddenly. "They've only lost six of their number, and we've lost one." His voice faltered at the end.

"Edward," I said, quietly. "Who have we-"

I never got to finish.

"Oh my God," he gasped.

"What?" Alice asked, sprinting to him.

"They..... the Guard has surrendered."

"What?"

"Just the Guard! The Newborns are still fighting, but the Guard has stopped. Something happened, but I can't make out what it was! Carlisle got the wolves to keep them away from the Newborns. The Newborns are trying to kill the Guard members! Something happened! I think one of them got into Bella's shield and instantly, he or she- no, it was Felix- told Carlisle everything. Carlisle got Siobhan to will the battle to slow down so that they could seperate friend from foe!"

There was a pause, in which I ran to Edward and Alice. Had something happened? What was it?

"The Guard is fighting with us!"

Benjamin, Alice, Jennie, Tanya, and I all shouted with exultation! It was as if heaven had opened on the battlefield, and there was no chance we could lose!

"Bella is keeping them in her shield so that they all stay in their right mind! And you won't believe this- once the real Guard members got inside the shield, their clones disappear! Since there can only be one clone per person, the Newborns are all that are left! No clones at all!"

"Yes!" Benjamin yelled, clapping me on the back a little harder than I think he meant to. Nevertheless, I patted him back, smiling widely.

Then we all ran to the edge of the cliff. What I saw was extraordinary, and relieved every fear in my mind. It was visible down below that the tides had turned for the absolute better! There were figures in black robes fighting others in black robes, accompanied by massive wolves and other vampires.

All of a sudden, more smoke than ever was rising from the battlefield, and we were winning!

"Wait!" Irina said.

We all turned to her.

"There's good news, and bad news," she said, smiling sheepishly at the cliché.

"Good news is," James began, "The Cloner, The Hypnotizer, and the Jade Shielder: they are all the same vampire."

"And the bad news?" I asked.

"Your friends are trapped inside."

***

Get Brady and get out. That was my job.

Seconds after James had given us the best news of all (kill one, win all), we had made one plan, and then we started walking into the Citadel.

"When we get to the Innermost Ring," Edward explained as the Irina, James, and Victoria clones guided us to through a labyrinth of corridors, "You have to find Brady and get out, Seth. Go back the way you came. Alice will go with you, for protection."

I was scared, although we were winning. There was obviously danger here that I had never witnessed. Brady was in danger. My pack brother was somewhere in this madhouse, with no power to phase. He was as vulnerable as I was. We didn't even know if our friend were alive.

"Alice," I said as we continued to walk. "Is there a chance that... that Caius had our friends killed already?"

Alice looked down before answering.

"No," she replied, and my heart lifted a little. "Caius would rather let us go in after them and then kill us all together. Don't worry, though. I will keep both you and Brady protected until you can phase again."

Of course, I was reassured by her gentle words, but my heart seemed to beat louder with every step. I couldn't doubt that I was about to face horrors that I had never dreamed. They were vampires, after all. Sparkly vampires with superpowers.

We stopped after about three minutes. The Citadel was massive, after all.

We found ourselves facing a huge pair of ornate golden doors at the end of the longest and widest hallway we had traversed so far. I knew that beyond those doors, I could very well die. I could very well face Death beyond those doors: Death and all of his friends.

"Beyond this door, we will not exist," Victoria said after a few long moments of silence. "There is another line of Jade, and we cannot cross it without going into non-existence."

Edward looked Irina in the eyes.

"Now would be a good time for goodbyes that we never had the chance for, I believe," he said slowly.

Then he drew Irina in for a tight hug, like cousins once again.

"I'm so sorry that I betrayed you," she said as they hugged.

"It's alright now," he replied as they ended the embrace. "No hard feelings at all."

Then Irina hugged Alice.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"It's okay, Irina," Alice replied, patting her on the back as she moved on to Tanya.

The embrace between the two sisters was tear-jerking for me. This was the last time they would ever see each other again. I could tell that if either one could have been crying, they would have been.

"I'm so sorry," Irina said, her voice broken. "I messed up so bad. I love you, and Kate, and Carmen and Eleazar. I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"It's okay," Tanya said, and she held her sister close.

"Tell Kate I love her, and miss her," Irina said before stepping away from all of us.

"Well," Victoria said, feeling out of place, as she should have, since she was surrounded by former enemies. "See ya."

Then she made an awkward wave and went to cling to James' arm.

"Yeah," James said. He waved awkwardly as well.

"By the way," Edward began curiously. "Why exactly did the Cloner recreate you three?"

Irina laughed once before answering.

"They thought that bringing back dead enemies would intimidate you enough to scare you away, or to entice you deeper into a trap," Irina said, as if the idea was funny to her. "Of course, I refused to fight."

"What about you two?" Alice asked Victoria and James.

"We just didn't want to fight," Victoria said, shrugging. "I've fought enough for three lifetimes."

"Same for me," James said.

There was one more second of awkward silence.

"We'll go this way to the other Jade Line so that we don't make this worse by our appearance," Irina suggested.

There were a few more awkward waves and smiles before the three vampire clones disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

I gasped as the doors in front of which we were standing began to open of their own accord.

The scene that met our eyes was frightening.

The chamber was ridiculously massive. There were pillars lining the side walls, tall and made of pure white marble.

There were three thrones at the end of the chamber. Caius was sitting in the biggest of the thrones, in the middle. Aro was in the one to his right, his face entirely free of expression. Jane and Alec were seated on the floor by Aro's feet, with the same blank faces that he wore. I noted morbidly that Jane was all put back together from when I ripped her legs off.

To Caius's other side sat a boy that looked barely twelve. He was the only one beside Caius and the Cloner that wasn't hypnotized. However, there was something about him that was sad, and he looked like he could've cried.

In the middle of the room, a girl no older than I sat stock-still, her red eyes shining green around the edge of the whites, and her face also blank. I couldn't imagine the awful concentration that it must have been taking to keep all her power in line. It was suddenly strange that we were here to kill her.

And seated in between each of the pillars edging the walls were the members of the last minute scout team.

With a feeling like an ice cold stab to the heart, I realized that they were hypnotized.

I found Brady's face instantly, his eyes glowing green because of such close proximity to the one that was keeping him silent. I imagined that the glow disappeared the farther away you got from the Hypnotizer/Cloner/Jade Shielder.

"Brady!" I yelled before I knew that I could speak at all.

Caius smiled at these words. I knew that he was hoping that I would run forward to Brady, but I didn't. And Brady didn't even stir at my words.

"Good evening," Caius said in a tone that didn't match how he looked: too conversational. He could've been getting ready to serve tea with that tone. "Won't you come in?"

None of us spoke, but I continued to glare at him balefully, my eyes full of the purest hatred.

He frowned when none of us spoke.

"This is Wendy," he said slowly, pointing towards the girl in the center of the second Jade Circle. "I can guess that the three clones from the past told you all about her? She's been quite useful really, after we got her to oblige with what we wanted. It took a little... persuasion." He continued when none of us answered. "This-" He pointed to the boy beside him. "-is Erin. He has a rather special ability-"

"Cut the shit, Caius," Alice yelled. "If you wanted us dead now, you could've had Wendy hypnotize us by now. Why haven't you?"

"Well, I would've thought it to be obvious!" he laughed. "I thought we'd have more fun this way."

Caius stood up and looked at us all, each of our eyes burning into his.

"Well, this is it, I'm afraid," Caius said, in false sadness.

And then the end began.

In a sudden flash of movement, my vampires, except Alice, ran forward. Aro, Caius, Alec, and Jane were a blur of panicked movement as Edward ran at Caius head on.

Marble arms sheathed in a cotton sweater wrapped themselves around me and in a flash of movement, we were next to the human Brady, who was still blank-faced.

"Brady!" I yelled as Alice put me down. "You have to listen to me!"

I was picking at straws now. I slapped his face, shook his shoulders, but nothing was working.

"Damn it!" I yelled, tears stinging my eyes from the panic. "Alice, I can't-"

And then I saw my chance. In the center of the room, the second Jade Circle sill glowed emerald green, with the girl in the middle, unmoving as a statue.

"Alice!" I shouted. "Get her out!"

I pointed at the girl as Caius and Edward flew by.

Alice was a blur of movement again. Up to that point, she had been assuring my safety by standing behind me. Now, she shot towards the beautiful girl in the center of the room. With one push, Alice threw the girl into the air, above the battle below and out of her circle.

Instantly, she fell victim to her own power-stealing, and Brady's eyes started to slowly turn back to their normal, warm light brown. And the other vampire's eyes were suddenly turning red or gold.

For one second, I was exultant, and then my eyes met Caius' red ones-

Then I was seeing black. I flew at light speed through the air and slammed hard into the wall. I felt something hot and red seeping from my body as I fell to the floor. The world went black and I couldn't see.

When I could see, I was seeing red, entirely red. I could see dimly the outlines of the battle. Neither the scout team, Aro, Jane, or Alec hadn't yet broken from their hypnosis, although the girl lay on the ground, far from her circle: only a few feet away, I could see. But I couldn't move. Aro, Jane, and Alec were still fighting, their powers still not working, obviously.

I heard Alice yell my name before blood trickled down onto my face. I was on the opposite side of the room, as far away from Brady as I could be.

Then I saw a figure very close to me. My first thought was that Caius had come to finish me off. This was it, I was going to die-

But it wasn't. It was Erin, the boy at the thrones. And there, at his side, was a girl that I had seen only once. I had seen this fair-haired girl outside of Jacob's house standing in the woods........

I heard a scream and a screeching metallic sound before the world got darker.

Fire burst inside my eyelids. Was I burning? Surely not, because I could still feel.

Then I heard the scream again- clearly, it was Caius. Was my team killing him? Had Brady come back to his mind? Had they destroyed the girl? Yes, I think they must have done so, because Jane was surely torturing him, which means that she would be back in her right mind now, and now an ally.

Then the feeling of fire joined the sight of it.

I didn't hear my own scream, but I could feel that it was being forced out of my throat.

I felt something wet and warm creep out of my body and out around me... I was still bleeding, even worse now...

My eyes seemed to open again, and I saw three people now: Alec, the boy, Erin, and the girl.

My mouth mouthed the words without me having to say them for myself.

"Help me... Save Jacob."

If they could keep Jacob safe through this grand finale of my life, the finale of Caius, the final act of terror of the world's most evil force ever created...

I was leaving this world, and the last time I would see Jacob would be now, when his image was suddenly burning itself into my closing eyelids, which felt so heavy that I was shocked I could will myself to keep them open.

Then my eyes filled with tears to mix with the blood pooling around my body.

"Keep him...safe."

I saw Alec and the girl raise their hands, a mist descend on my eyes, my mind, my heart...

And I was gone.

* * *

I am sorry to end this chapter this way, but remember THIS IS NOT THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are three more chapters left in the story!!!!!!!!!!! AND IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING, SO DON'T WORRY! :)

**~-~FinalLifeline~-~**


	18. AUTHOR'S NOTE will be replaced later

Guys, you have no idea how terrible I feel for leaving you hanging like this! I have only two words to blame for this.

Writers.

Block.

I know, its a lame excuse, but I'm serious. I got stuck. Plus, business has been running rampant in my world! Here's how it is:

I stopped writing, because of sudden writer's block, and only quiet little ideas floated around in my head. I had the plot figured out before the block happened, but it all just vanished. I realized there were conflicts I couldn't quite fix the way I wanted them to be fixed, so I stopped, stunned and a almost depressed at the fact that I couldn't find the right road to write down.

But now, I think its all slowly coming back to me!

I am praying that very soon, I will write the next chapter. A warning: It's been six months since I've written anything. There may be tiny differences in writing style, and if there are any continuation errors, they are accidental.

Also, in regards to the sequel I have mentioned:

There was a sequel planned, originally called Whispered Dusk. After I hit the block, I couldn't find a rode to write down, and none of them included a good plot for a sequel. However, I MIGHT work on Whispered Dusk, since I did have a minor plot made for it... I am so so so very sorry for making you all wait so long! Its almost been a freaking year and I feel terrible.

Thank you for your support, and remember, Stephenie made the stage, I'm just providing a new story! :)

-~-FinalLifeline-~- (a writer who does not deserve support for the terrible cliffhanger and 6 month long wait)


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